What really happened in the VAR room the day Arsenal lost

Arsenal’s defeat to Newcastle United at the Saint James’ Park was a hard pill to swallow for Arsenal as Mikel Arteta’s side’s unbeaten run came to a halt with Anthony Gordon’s controversial winner for the Magpies.

In a league where every point mattered, the goal created a lot of online reactions and even fury from the Arsenal boss, Mikel Arteta who had to be defended by the club following his rant to the press concerning the VAR call in the game.

And now, just like the controversial tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool earlier in the season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London, the PGMOL have released the conversations that went down in the VAR room that prompted the Gunners’ defeat.

In the transcript, the dialogue between the officials during the pivotal moments of the goal review unfolds, showcasing their examination of various angles and aspects of the play.

The discussions ranged from scrutinizing the ball’s position in relation to the goal line to assessing Joelinton’s challenge, Gordon’s potential offside position, and the absence of conclusive evidence regarding the ball’s exit from the field.

**Goal goes in**

REF: No, no, they’ll check. They’ll check.

VAR: Stu (referee Stuart Atwell), can you confirm your on-field decision, please?

REF: Mads (VAR Andy Madley), on-field decision is goal. The ask on the pitch is for ball out of play on the goal line.

VAR: Confirmed, Stuart. Checking on-field decision of goal.

So I’m interested in… I’d like you to go to GLT (goal-line technology). Have you got a GLT camera there?

RO: It’s not going to be in there. We can go to this one (reverse camera).

VAR: Ok yep, that’s fine.

REF: And Burty (AVAR Stuart Burt), normal contact at the challenge on the back post.

VAR: Stop it at that point, thank you, thank you.

VAR: So Stu, can you take a look at this as well before we go to check the goal? For me, I have no conclusive evidence that that ball is out.

AVAR: No, I agree. You can’t go on that angle. Although it looks out, you’ve got the curvature of the ball.

VAR: Ok go two frames forward, you can see the ball is already back in play/on the line. So that’s fine, run that through please.

AVAR: Right, now you’ve got a challenge on the back post.

VAR: Now doing a potential check on Gabriel. So have you got high behind (the goal – camera angle). I don’t see a specific foul on Gabriel. I see two hands on his back but I don’t see anything of a push that warrants him flying forward like that

AVAR: Right Stuart there’s a potential, there is a potential for handball but it’s not the goalscorer giving the handball.

VAR: No, it’s not the goalscorer and it’s not deliberate. Right Stuart (Burt, assistant VAR) I need you to look at the screen. So I’m seeing the ball comes off Joelinton with no specific foul there. Can you just confirm that the player is onside as well when it comes off Joelinton?

Can we just confirm that is off Joelinton? And the point of contact on Joelinton?

RO: Just looking for a better angle to find the point of contact for you.

VAR: And we just need to check that he is in an onside position then as we run it through.

RO: Struggling to find a point of contact here.

VAR: Ok, ok, keep going down, roll that forward, roll that forward. Ok, so it’s going to be off Joelinton’s hip potentially.

Ok so roll that forward, are you happy that is the best point of contact that we’ve got?

AVAR: Yep, from the angles that we have available.

VAR: So check the offside now.

Ok so he’s clearly on, looking at Gabriel’s body position in there, his shoulder.

AVAR: Yeah, but you’ve got the second rearmost is the goalkeeper.

VAR: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah.

AVAR: So now, you’ve got to decide, because you’ve got… I don’t know where the ball is because the ball is being hidden from Joelinton here. So you don’t know where the ball is. And you’ve got no conclusive evidence of Gordon being ahead of the ball.

So with the reverse angle that you’ve got, you’ve not got any opportunity there of where the ball is. What that in my opinion, you have to award the goal in my opinion.

VAR: So we go check complete on the goal? So on-field decision is goal, yeah?

AVAR: Confirmed.