{"id":368,"date":"2026-03-18T08:50:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T08:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=368"},"modified":"2026-03-18T08:50:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T08:50:05","slug":"var-controversy-arsenal-dodge-three-penalty-calls-in-title-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/?p=368","title":{"rendered":"VAR controversy: Arsenal dodge three penalty calls in title race"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Arsenal are surging towards the Premier League title, opening up a commanding nine-point lead over Manchester City after a clinical 2-0 win over Everton last weekend.<\/p>\n

The foundation of Arsenal\u2019s dominance has been their rock-solid defence, which has conceded just 22 goals all season.<\/p>\n

While manager Mikel Arteta rightly deserves immense credit, he has also benefited from a fair share of fortune along the way.<\/p>\n

The Gunners have ridden their luck on multiple occasions, with several tight 50\u201350 decisions swinging in their favour.<\/p>\n

According to journalist Dale Johnson, citing the Premier League Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel, Arsenal have controversially avoided VAR-awarded penalties in three matches that they ultimately won by a single goal.<\/p>\n

The first flashpoint came during their narrow 1-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium on March 4.<\/p>\n

Bukayo Saka found the back of the net after a wicked deflection from Carlos Baleba.<\/p>\n

The Seagulls piled pressure on the visitors but they remained resolute at the back.<\/p>\n

The controversial moment came at the cusp of the interval when Gabriel Martinelli got into a tussle with Mats Wieffer inside Arsenal\u2019s penalty box.<\/p>\n

Martinelli clearly dragged the 26-year-old down but the VAR deemed no clear and obvious error.<\/p>\n

The KMI Panel voted 4:1 that a spot-kick should have been awarded on the field, and 3:2 that it was a missed VAR intervention.<\/p>\n

The second episode came in their 2-1 victory over arch-rivals Chelsea last month.<\/p>\n

With the hosts leading 1-0, Chelsea were left frustrated as Declan Rice had both arms around Jorrel Hato before the ball struck his elbow. It was a clear penalty.<\/p>\n

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The panel voted unanimously 5:0 that it was the wrong decision but only one panel member thought it met the threshold for VAR intervention.<\/p>\n

The third incident came in Everton\u2019s 1-0 defeat to the Gunners on December 20.<\/p>\n

Arsenal were leading 1-0 when William Saliba and Thierno Barry clashed inside the area.<\/p>\n

The Everton striker got to the ball first, only for Saliba to recklessly kick his boot without making any contact with the ball.<\/p>\n

The panel voted 3:2 that the on-field decision by referee Sam Barrott to not award a penalty was incorrect.<\/p>\n

There have been 18 VAR errors this season. Remarkably, not a single one has gone against Arsenal, underlining just how much fortune has favoured the London side this term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal are surging towards the Premier League title, opening up a commanding nine-point lead over<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}