Newcastle United thrived where many before them failed, inflicting a first defeat on Arsenal in the 2023/24 Premier League season on Saturday evening.
Anthony Gordon’s controversial goal midway through the second half propelled the Magpies to a gutsy 1-0 victory at St James’ Park but was also a cause of a heated debate afterwards.
It’s still unfathomable how the goal stood as VAR had to check three separate incidents leading to Newcastle’s winner, which left Arsenal players and their boss, Mikel Arteta, fuming.
VAR’s first task was to determine whether Joe Willock kept the ball in play in the build-up, then to see if Joelinton committed a foul on Gabriel Magalhaes and finally was Gordon offside before putting the ball home.
Perhaps surprisingly, all three situations passed the test, even though there’s a legitimate claim that Joelinton did use excessive force to set up his forward for the goal.
Things started to get out of control even before the goal as Kai Havertz made a cynical tackle on Newcastle midfielder Sean Longstaff towards the end of the first half.
Somehow, referee Stuart Attwell deemed the intensity of the challenge sufficient for a yellow, though in other circumstances, it could’ve easily warranted a red.
Bruno Guimaraes got away without a slap on the wrist for elbowing Arsenal skipper Jorginho without the ball late in the first half, which seemingly didn’t go well with the ex-Chelsea playmaker.
It appears Jorginho refused to shake Jamaal Lascelles’ hand after the final whistle, fuelling the Newcastle captain’s ego as he delivered his verdict of the incident in the aftermath.
“Their captain, Jorginho, didn’t want to shake my hand after the game. For me, whatever happens on the pitch – handbags or whatever – you show sportsmanship and shake hands afterwards,” Lascelles said, as quoted by NewcastleWorld.
“He didn’t do that, so I’m so glad we beat them. Players like that, I don’t think it’s acceptable.
“A lot of them walked in but I went up to him to shake his hand but he didn’t want to – and he’s their captain! I was fuming, it’s not on.
“I would never refuse to shake an opposition captain’s hand, no way. You can have as many arguments as you want on the pitch but shake hands at the end, it’s part of the sport.”
