Arsenal were denied a penalty during their Premier League game with Chelsea on Saturday after Blues goalkeeper Robert Sanchez clattered into Gunners forward Gabriel Jesus
Howard Webb is facing another backlash from fans
PGMOL chief Howard Webb is bracing himself for another apology after referee Chris Kavanagh failed to award Arsenal a penalty during Saturday’s game against Chelsea.
The Gunners and the Blues played out a thrilling 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge. Goals from Cole Palmer and Mykhaylo Mudryk gave Chelsea a two-goal lead before Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard scored to salvage a Premier League point for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Yet the game was overshadowed by controversy, as Kavanagh and the VAR officials decided Robert Sanchez’s late challenge on Gabriel Jesus didn’t warrant a penalty. The challenge was very similar to Andre Onana’s against Wolves on the opening weekend of the season when the Manchester United goalkeeper clattered into two opposition players.
Webb apologised to Wolves fans for failing to award a penalty in that 1-0 defeat and promised to ‘learn’ from the blunder. Yet it appears that lesson was ignored after Sanchez got away with clattering into Jesus, with Alan Shearer calling the challenge “terrible”.
Analysing Onana’s challenge, Webb said: “Onana jumps into the Wolves player. (Sasa) Kalajdzic is just jumping up and not into Onana, so it’s not two players coming together - It’s one player going into the other. In the end, we didn’t recommend a review.
“We should’ve done. We acknowledge that as an error in the opening week, which of course is disappointing. We took the learning from that and (will) obviously try going forward to ensure that type of error doesn’t happen again.”
Robert Sanchez’s late challenge went unpunished (
Image:
Getty Images)
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Arsenal fans have compared Sanchez’s challenge with Onana’s and are struggling to find the difference. Shearer thinks the Gunners should’ve had a penalty. He told Match of the Day: “Sanchez has just come out and he wipes Jesus out.
“What is key for me is that he catches him in the head. Look, he goes right through him here. It’s a terrible challenge. How on earth can the VAR not think that’s a penalty and the referee? He is nowhere near the ball. They should have had a penalty, there is no doubt about it.”
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Sanchez was also at fault for Rice’s goal, as he gifted him the ball in front of an open net. Arsenal’s David Raya made a similar error but was unpunished. Shearer asked: “What on earth is he (Sanchez) doing there? I haven’t got a clue. Just clear it and get rid of it.”
Kavanagh’s failure to award a penalty could have a big impact on the title race. Arsenal are second in the Premier League table, level on points with leaders Manchester City. Tottenham will go two points clear at the top if they beat Fulham at home on Monday.
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