The Premier League has provided an explanation for the decision to uphold the contentious penalty that Myles Lewis-Skelly received against Everton.
Everton’s Jack Harrison was brought down inside the box by Arsenal star Lewis-Skelly, which drew the attention of referee Darren England. The incident occurred just under a minute into the second half of the 1-1 tie between the two teams.
Despite the fact that both players had their hands all over the jersey of the other, Lewis-Skelly was considered to have gone too far with his interaction with the other player, and England handed him a penalty.
Arsenal angrily objected to England’s decision, which was reviewed by the video assistant referee.
The topic of whether the foul occurred inside or outside the box was another one that was speculated upon.
However, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) advised England to continue with his decision, and the Premier League Match Centre on X has provided an explanation as to why this was the case.
“The referee’s call of penalty for the challenge by Lewis-Skelly on Harrison was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact deemed to be sufficient for a penalty and inside the area,” according to the official statement.
On the other hand, Stuart Pearce, a former outstanding player for Nottingham Forest, questioned whether the level of contact involved justified a penalty.
“This could actually be interesting when they review this again,” Pearce stated in his analysis for talkSPORT before the game.
What is the extent of the contact that exists? A Lewis- Due to the fact that Skelly is now leaning backwards and alleging that he was pushed, he has been captured below the ball. Harrison is asserting that he was.
“It was definitely a cheap collapse, and there wasn’t a lot of value in it,” the speaker said.
“But whether the referee’s going to turn round and overturn that or VAR or your guess is as good as mine.”
In the end, it was not, and Iliman Ndiaye of Everton scored a penalty kick with a nice touch to cancel out Leandro Trossard’s goal that had been scored in the first half.
This was only the second occasion that Everton had been granted a penalty this season; the match against Brighton on January 25 was the only previous time they had been given a penalty.
In the 75th minute, Lewis-Skelly was substituted out for Kieran Tierney, which brought an end to his afternoon throughout the match.
Due to the fact that neither team was able to produce a winner at Goodison Park, Arsenal has only been able to defeat Everton on their own grounds once in the past seven seasons.
The outcome indicates that Liverpool has the potential to increase their lead over the Gunners at the top of the Premier League to 14 points if they are successful in their match against Fulham later this week.
It is possible that Arsenal is also anxiously looking over their shoulders at this moment, considering that Nottingham Forest, who are now in third position, are only five points behind Arsenal and have not yet played this weekend.
With the draw, Everton moved up to 14th place, one spot ahead of Tottenham in the standings.
However, if Ange Postecoglou’s team is successful in their match against Southampton, who are now in last position, and West Ham United is victorious against Bournemouth, then the Toffees might finish the weekend in sixteenth place.
