Shearer and Given agree on Arsenal penalty call amid four VAR checks
According to Alan Shearer, Arsenal was unfortunate not to receive a penalty during their Premier League game against Bournemouth.
The Cherries quickly took the lead with Philling Billing scoring the second-fastest goal in Premier League history.
Although Arsenal appeared to have a penalty case when the ball appeared to have been handled by Chris Mepham in the box, the referee Chris Kavanagh did not award it, and VAR supported his decision after careful review.
This infuriated the Arsenal players. Shearer, a former Newcastle player, acknowledged that Arsenal was unlucky not to have been granted a penalty.
“Absolutely they could have [had a penalty]”, he said. “This would have been given last season, no doubt about that.
“[Though] the bar is slightly higher this season, Bournemouth have been extremely lucky there.” Former Manchester City goalkeeper Shay given echoed Shearer’s thoughts, admitting that he thought Kavanagh made a mistake.
Given: “I think that’s a handball.”
In the second half of the match, two more instances of handball were checked by VAR, but no penalty was awarded in either case. Additionally, in the first half, Takehiro Tomiyasu was fouled, and VAR reviewed the incident closely but ultimately allowed play to continue.
Shearer and Given agree on Arsenal penalty call amid four VAR checks
