The Premier League’s official reasoning for denying Anthony Gordon a penalty for Newcastle United against Chelsea left Eddie Howe bemused.
Clearly, much of the focus following Newcastle United’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea will be that the trend of Howe’s side throwing leads away continued.
That is the major issue at Newcastle right now and the manner in which they were pegged back in the second half was alarming.
Still, the Gordon penalty incident was a major talking point, too.
If you could go back in time and tell Eddie Howe one thing during his half-time team talk, what would it be?!
The England forward was brilliant against the Blues, setting up both of Nick Woltemade’s goals at St James’ Park.
It may well have been even better, however, had Gordon been rewarded with a penalty after Trevoh Chalobah brought him down in the box.
The challenge was looked at by VAR but the Premier League’s official reasoning for not giving the decision was: “ The referee’s call of no penalty to Newcastle was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact from Chalobah on Gordon deemed to be side-to-side in a shielding action and the ball within playing distance.”
That surprised Howe.
Eddie Howe thinks Anthony Gordon deserved a penalty against Chelsea
That very statement was put to the Newcastle United manager during his post-match interview with TNT Sports.
Presenter Jules Breach repeated it word-for-word and asked Howe if he understood why VAR came to that conclusion.
“No, because it’s not [side-to-side shielding],” he said.
“The defender’s only look is Anthony, not the ball.
“I think it’s too aggressive.”
Confirmed: Why Newcastle United were denied a penalty against Chelsea 👇
Where does think rank on the worst decisions given against us this season?!
Expert opinion on whether Newcastle United should have had a penalty against Chelsea
It’s easy to see why Newcastle would be aggrieved by that. Had it been a Chelsea player in that situation, Blues fans would no doubt be annoyed too.
It’s natural that supporters would want every decision to go their way.
However, it seems that it’s not only Newcastle fans who believe they were hard done by.
Mark Clattenburg is a former Premier League referee and, speaking exclusively to Geordie Boot Boys, he expressed his expert opinion that the challenge should have seen Newcastle given a penalty.
“One can argue that it was a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge, but a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge should be allowed only when trying to play the ball,” he said.
“In this case, Chalobah barges into him without playing the ball and this in my opinion should have been a penalty kick.”
It’s a shame that Gordon’s brilliant performance against Chelsea wasn’t made even better with what was surely the correct call.
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