Controversial goal leads to Arsenal's first defeat in the Premier League! Will there be an apology after Ta Shuai angrily sprays the referee's shame?

In the early morning of November 5, Beijing time, in the 11th round of the English Premier League, Newcastle United defeated Arsenal 1-0 at home, and the Gunners suffered their first defeat in the league and suffered two consecutive defeats in all competitions. What made Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta even more unacceptable was that the only goal of the game was determined to be valid by referee Attwell when it was suspected of being out of bounds, suspected foul and suspected offside! This also led to a rare attack on the referee after the game, using "shame" to describe the decision.

Newcastle's goal was suspected to be out of bounds, fouled and offside

The only goal of the game came in the 64th minute, when Newcastle's counter-effort went wide and the ball visibly rolled off the line, but it was then fished back into the field by Gunners veteran Willock, whose cross was then headed over by Joelin Linton, who slotted home the goal.

Referee Attwell signalled that the goal was valid, and VAR immediately stepped in to review it, but the details of the goal were too complicated. They first tried to determine if the ball was out of bounds, then began to check whether Joelinton, who assisted the header, had fouled Gabriel in front of him, and finally checked whether Gordon, who had scored the goal, was in an offside position. The whole VAR review process lasted four minutes, but in the end, no clear answers were given to the above three questions in the broadcast screen, and they did not advise Attwell to check the slow-motion replay on the sidelines himself, and the latter finally blew the whistle to confirm that the goal was valid!

Newcastle controversy goal

Since the official introduction of VAR in the Premier League, people have never seen such a complex and controversial decision. When VAR began to step in to review, commentators, including Waddell, said 'it couldn't have been a valid goal'. Arsenal legend Keown, who works as a commentator for the BBC's "Game of the Day", pointed out that Joelinton's foul on Gabriel behind is clearly visible, and there is no blind spot at all.

The controversial decision, as well as the lengthy and painful VAR review process, also completely angered Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta. After the game, he said something rare to the media: "I feel disgusting! It's not a goal at all, it's as simple as that. Nowhere in the world would this type of goal hold! And in the end we lost the game because of such a decision, which is so embarrassing and I think it's a real shame! ”

Arteta's post-match comments are likely to trigger an investigation by the relevant authorities and eventually lead to penalties including bans and fines.

The result of the game cannot be changed, but PGMOL has apologised for a number of wrongful decisions that have occurred. After the first round of the season, Wolves boss Gary O'Neill said he had received an apology from Jonathan Moss (PGMOL official and former Premier League referee) for not being awarded a penalty in the 1-0 defeat at Manchester United.

In the seventh round of the season, in Liverpool's defeat to Tottenham, the controversial decision mistakenly whistled out Luis Dias's goal on the grounds of "offside", and Liverpool also received an apology at the time. PGMOL chief executive Howard Webb admits a Manchester City goal was wrongly ruled valid against Fulham in September.

In the 2022-2023 season, PGMOL has also apologized to Everton, Brighton, Arsenal and other Premier League clubs for some controversial decisions. History suggests that PGMOL will apologise if there is a clear mistake, but it is unclear whether Arsenal are likely to receive an apology this time.

Edited by Ou Peng