Referee clears up why Arsenal and Liverpool were not given penalty shouts in the first half

Both Arsenal and Liverpool saw penalty shouts turned down at the Emirates. BBC Sport's referee pundit Peter Walton has explained why Arsenal and Liverpool were not given penalties in the first half of their Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening. At half-time, ex-Premier League referee Walton reviewed the footage of the moment when Mkhitaryan appeared to be brought down in the box by Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker causing fans to claim their side had been denied a spot kick. "When you look at it you can see the goalkeeper has come out," he said of the first moment where Mkhitaryan was clattered by Alisson. "That's part of the game. Not every challenge is necessarily a foul and every foul has some kind of physical contact. "He's gone through, yes he's caught him but for me it's not a foul and it's the right decision from Andre Marriner." On Van Dijk he again backed Marriner's call. "Again, this is almost a mirror image to the one we looked at," he said. "I'll state again, part of the game is physical contact, the goalkeeper's come out there.”

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