Well, colour me shocked. Turns out that Brighton should have been awarded a penalty in their 1-0 defeat against Arsenal when both referee Chris Kavanagh and VAR ruled Gabriel Martinelli had done nothing wrong in throwing Mats Wieffer to the ground.
The Premier League Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel watched back the incident before voting 4:1 that Mr Kavanagh should have awarded Brighton a penalty and 3:2 that VAR should have intervened to overturn the original incorrect decision.
Three minutes of first half injury time had been played when Ferdi Kadioglu whipped over a cross from the left. Wieffer attempted to make a darting run to the back post, only for his process to be blocked by a WWE-style slam from Martinelli.
Mr Kavanagh waved play on and Michael Salisbury on VAR agreed with the on-pitch decision. For two highly-paid officials to conclude everything was legal and above board even with the benefit of a slow-motion replay seemed at the time bizarre bordering on inept.
Fabian Hurzeler certainly agreed. He questioned fourth official David Webb on the touchline. Mikel Arteta was of course quick to stick his beak in, sparking a confrontation with Hurzeler.
Lest anyone forget Arteta is the only Premier League manager allowed to charge around the technical area criticising decisions.
No love lost between Hurzeler and Arteta
It is fair to say there is little love lost between Hurzeler and Arteta. The Youngest Permanent Manager in Premier League History spoke in his pre-match press conference about the Gunners’ time wasting tactics.
“I think no-one recognises it, but when Arsenal have a corner and they are leading, sometimes they spend over one minute just to take a corner.”
“My opinion is that every supporter who pays a lot of money to go to the stadiums and watch our games should see the same net-to-game time because they pay a lot of money.”
“They want to see a football event. They don’t want to see maybe 50 minutes the ball is in the game and 40 minutes the ball is not.”
Hurzeler was at it again afterwards, saying: “I will never be that kind of manager who tries to win in that way.”
“Of course, every team will manage and waste time. But there has to be a limit and the limit has to be set by the Premier League. The limit has to be set by the referees. At the moment, Arsenal just do what they want.”
Hurzeler also managed to get into a mid-game argument with Gunners left back Piero Hincapie, who he told to “****ing play football” after a long delay taking a throw in front of the Brighton dugout.
What the KMI Panel said about VAR missing the Brighton penalty against Arsenal
When issuing their ruling, the KMI Panel wrote: “Martinelli is not looking at the ball, holds Weiffer into the area and prevents the Brighton player from challenging for the ball.”
It was not the only bit of friendly officiating Arsenal benefitted from on their way to three points at the Amex.
Mr Kavanagh allowed Arsenal to time waste to their heart’s content from the second Bukayo Saka struck them into a ninth minute lead.
The Gunners took 30 minutes and 51 seconds to restart play against Brighton, meaning the on-pitch action lasted less than one hour.
A personal favourite came early in the second half when David Raya made a save landing on his right shoulder. Only to then roll around on the ground holding his left shoulder which was subsequently treated.
With an acting performance like that, it was something of a shock to see Michael B Jordan picking up the Oscar for Best Actor on Sunday night for his turn in Sinners rather than Raya.
Not the first time Arsenal have benefitted from big VAR mistake
Brighton not being awarded a penalty was the second time VAR has been criticised for missing a crucial decision in a game involving Arsenal.
In December, the KMI Panel ruled Everton were denied a clear spot kick at the Hill Dickinson Stadium for a William Saliba challenge on Thierno Barry.
The Gunners again went onto win a difficult away game 1-0 aided by the error. And the VAR official that night? Mr Salisbury again.
Despite all this, there are still some Arsenal fans out there who genuinely believe there is a conspiracy amongst officials trying to stop them winning the Premier League title.
What a strange bunch.
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