Ian Wright disagrees with Dermot Gallagher’s explanation of controversial decision to allow Anthony Gordon’s goal during Newcastle’s 1-0 win against Arsenal claiming ‘the ball looks out of play’

• Ian Wright has disagreed with the decision to allow Newcastle’s goal vs Arsenal 
• It came after Dermot Gallagher had given an explanation on why the goal stood
• Follow Mail Sport’s new Arsenal WhatsApp channel for all the breaking news 

Ian Wright has disagreed with Dermot Gallagher’s explanation of the controversial decision to allow Antony Gordon’s goal to stand during Newcastle’s 1-0 win against Arsenal on Saturday, claiming that the ball ‘looked out of play’.

The incident occurred in the build up to the 64th-minute winner, with VAR officials confirming that Joe Willock had managed to prevent the ball from going out for a goal kick, despite it seeming to cross the byline.

The goal went through three seperate VAR checks but the officials deemed there was no infringement, a judgement that was slammed by Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta as ‘disgraceful’ after the final whistle.

Speaking on why the goal was subsequently awarded by referee Stuart Attwell, former referee, Gallagher admitted that while it was a hard decision to make, the footage of the incident did not conclusively show that the whole of the ball had crossed the line. 

‘The whole of the ball has to be over the line and you can look at it from that angle and you can’t tell, as Wrighty says, it’s impossible to tell,’ he told Premier League Matchday Live. 

Ian Wright has disagreed with explanations that Newcastle’s controversial goal against Arsenal should have stood

The ball appeared to go out of play before Anthony Gordon scored the winner for Eddie Howe’s side 

Dermot Gallagher had delivered his view of why the goal stood, claiming there was inconclusive evidence that the whole of the ball had passed the byline

‘The reason I say that is we see people take corners now and I often think that the ball is out of the circumference, but because it overhangs, they’re allowed to play. 

‘I think that may be the problem with this because we can’t be sure that part of that ball isn’t hanging over the line. So on that basis there is no evidence to say the ball is out of play. That’s how it is. It’s only penalised if the ball is out of play.’

Despite that, former Arsenal forward, Wright, did not agree and claimed that the ball looked like it had gone out of play. 

Joe Willock had appeared to keep the ball in play, with Gallagher arguing that the ball was overhanging the line

‘Sorry to interrupt, Dermot,’ Wright said. ‘But the angles we’re seeing, the ball looks out of play. That’s surely what we should be judging it on. 

‘It’s not like we can’t say conclusively. What we can see from that from me, the naked eye, because we haven’t got any other way to prove that the circumference of the ball is breaking the line, then surely we should give that as the ball out of play?’

Replays of the goal were shown live during the match, with Arsenal’s players gathering around Attwell to protest that the goal should be disallowed. 

But Gallagher stood firm on his opinion, stating: ‘Wrighty I get that and fully understand what you’re saying, but the problem is if you see many corners taken, when you look at it down the line, you say “that ball is out of the quadrant.” 

‘But when you actually go to it and look at it, part of it overhangs the line. The law says the whole of the ball has to be over the whole of the line. The VAR wasn’t convinced because of the angle they’ve got.

‘As you quite rightly said, they haven’t got the angle down the line to look at it. So therefore they can’t make that decision. The on-field decision is ball in play.’

Both Arsenal and Newcastle could have also been sent down to 10-men, after Kai Havertz committed a dangerous foul on Sean Longstaff in the first half. 

Bruno Guimaraes also came close to a red card after he elbowed Jorginho, but Attwell chose not to send either player off. 

Willock subsequently crossed the ball into the box, with Anthony Gordon (middle) tapping in

Mikel Arteta blasted the officials following the match claiming he ‘felt sick’ at some of the decisions

After the match, Arteta slammed the officials, claiming that some of their decisions had made him feel ‘sick’. 

‘It’s so difficult to compete at this level. This is nowhere near the [refereeing] level to describe this as the best league in the world. I feel sick to be part of this.’

He added: ‘I have to stand here and explain, we lost three points. There’s too much at stake. It’s embarrassing. It’s not in their hands, I have to praise the players how they play here.

‘It’s incredible how they competed against this team, it makes me sick. I feel sick to be part of this.’

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