The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel has ruled that Liverpool should have had a penalty against Arsenal, but that Noni Madueke correctly avoided a red card.
The Premier League’s KMI Panel assess the key incidents from each round of matches, and after ruling on Matchday 9, they’ve finally found their first incorrect decision of the season in Arsenal’s favour.
The panel voted 4-1 that a penalty should have been awarded for a holding action by Jurrien Timber on Alexander Isak. The one panelist felt the holding was too short to have a clear impact on Isak, but the others thought it was enough for a penalty.
The panel also voted 3-2 that it was enough for VAR to overturn the initial decision of ‘no penalty’. But all five panelists agreed that it wasn’t a DOGSO offence, and thus it was correct not to send Timber off.
The panel did side with Arsenal on a number of other decisions in the match, however. They unanimously agreed that it was right not to dismiss Noni Madueke for his clash with Alexis Mac Allister, judging that the referee was correct to not even book Madueke, let alone show him a straight red.
The panel were shown various other potential penalties for Liverpool, for a challenge by Timber on Mac Allister, a challenge by Christos Tzolis on Cody Gakpo, and a potential handball by Timber. In all three cases, they unanimously voted that it was right not to award a penalty.
For some reason, the panel weren’t shown Trey Nyoni’s potential red-card challenge in the first minute of the game, despite former referees suggesting it could have been a sending off. As the panel weren’t shown the incident, it’s not known how they would have voted on it.
As for the seemingly-incorrect decision not to award Kai Havertz a penalty for a foul in the Arsenal game against Hull City at the weekend, that incident will be ruled on when the KMI Panel next meets.
For the time being, Arsenal have had three major incorrect decisions against them and one for them this season.
The three against were the penalty Bruno Guimaraes should have had against Aston Villa, the red card that should have been shown to the Villa player, and the penalty that was incorrectly awarded to Sunderland.
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