Anthony Gordon's decisive goal for Newcastle United against Arsenal scored at their home ground, underwent an extended review by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) before being officially confirmed as a valid goal.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has outlined the process behind the VAR's decision not to overturn the goal. Initially, there was a Newcastle cross that came very close to crossing the byline. Joe Willock then collected the ball and delivered a cross that ultimately resulted in the goal.
Despite claims from many Arsenal supporters that the ball had gone out of play, Gallagher clarified that the match officials on the field and those operating in the VAR hub were unable to definitively determine whether it had indeed crossed the line.
"There is no evidence to say the ball is out of play. It isn’t whether the ball is in play but whether the ball is out of play," he said, via Premier League's official website.
Subsequently, the VAR officials reviewed whether there was a potential foul by Joelinton on Arsenal defender Gabriel before Gordon's goal. However, the match referee, Stuart Atwell, did not consider it to be a foul, and VAR did not identify sufficient evidence to change his ruling, according to Callagher.
Next, the VAR officials had the task of establishing whether Gordon was in an offside position when he scored. In this regard, Gallagher explained that the VAR officials couldn't arrive at a conclusive decision due to the limited video evidence at their disposal.
"The offside, which they looked at for a long, long time, but couldn't find the lines to decide where the ball was when it struck Joelinton to come down," he added.
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