Ref chief Webb: Arsenal must know Newcastle goal was legit

Arsenal star Gabriel was unsuccessful in his attempts to have a Newcastle United goal disallowed last week at Newcastle.

That is what fans have heard through VAR audio of the incident of Anthony Gordon's winning goal in the game.

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was furious after the game, saying he was ashamed and embarrassed by the poor refereeing.

However, during the incident VAR said: I don't see a specific foul on Gabriel. I see two hands on his back but I don't see anything of a push that warrants him flying forward like that."

PGMOL chief Howard Webb added: This was a big moment - an unusual situation with three aspects for the VAR to check whether or not the on-field decision of goal should be overturned. We see the ball getting very close to the goalline - don't forget we have an Assistant Referee who is right in line - the ball hasn't got a lot of pace as it goes to the goalline, so he's looking right down the line better than any of our cameras.

And we know the ball is curved, so it can be overhanging the line and we need evidence it's out, and we don't have that here. The ball then comes over and Joelinton challenges Gabriel, and it could be a foul, might be a foul. The VAR decides that the evidence from the footage isn't clear enough to intervene with a recommendation for a review for a clear error.

"I think the talks we've seen after, the opinion that is split across a lot of analysis, would suggest that was a correct non-intervention because of the subjectivity. And then one of those unusual situations where the ball goes between two players, and trying to identify exactly when the ball leaves Joelinton, is really difficult to establish because of the players being so close together.

"So again, no conclusive evidence that Gordon was offside when the ball was last touched. The VAR went through that diligently and identified no clear evidence to intervene to overturn the goal. The process was actually correct."