Ian Wright was perplexed by a controversial incident in the Premier League clash between Everton and Arsenal on Saturday.
Everton suffered a 1-0 defeat against Arsenal at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, with the Gunners ensuring that they are atop the table on Christmas.
Viktor Gyokeres scored a 27th-minute penalty that proved to be the winning goal against David Moyes‘ team.
Who were you most underwhelmed by against Arsenal? 😫
So many poor performances out there from the Blues…
Ian Wright delivers verdict on penalty incident in Everton vs Arsenal
Wright, in the Premier League’s Saturday Wrap, delivered his verdict on the talking points from the games on 20 December.
He even discussed an incident in the 57th minute of the game that left Moyes and the Everton players annoyed.
William Saliba swung his leg and made contact with Thierno Barry inside the Toffees’ penalty area.
The France international completely missed the ball and instead, took out his compatriot who clearly had eyes for the ball.
HOW were Everton not awarded a penalty for this? 😤
This would have been given against the Blues!
This saw a number of the Blues players, including Jack Grealish, turn to referee Samuel Barrott, who did not point to the spot.
Even after a lengthy VAR check, the decision was made not to give a penalty to Everton.
Wright, despite being an Arsenal fan, believes that his former side were lucky in that instance.
He said: “What’s happening? I’ve seen them given. I’ve seen one of those given this season. I don’t know what that means. He’s not kicked him hard enough? He’s kicked him. If I’m David Moyes, I’m disappointed. As an Arsenal fan, I’m delighted.”
How did the Premier League respond to the controversy?
Given how many contentious refereeing calls occur each weekend, the Premier League have set up an X account to communicate the decisions to the fans.
They did the same thing after Barrott’s call, as, for most neutrals, he got the decision wrong and Everton should have been handed a penalty.
In their view, the contact made by Saliba on Barry was deemed to be insufficient in order to give a penalty.
However, the VAR did not instruct the on-field referee to have a look at the monitor, as that would have given him multiple views of the incident and he could have then decided whether or not to stick with his decision.
The Premier League wrote: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Everton was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed the contact from Saliba on Barry wasn’t sufficient for a penalty.”
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