Newcastle could well have had a penalty in the first half of their lunchtime visit to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal.
Fabian Schar went down while a corner was being swung in after a coming together with Martin Odegaard.
The Norwegian playmaker grabbed Schar’s shirt and the defender fell to the ground but nothing was given.
Magpies legend Alan Shearer was watching the game for Premier League TV and had his say on the incident at half-time.
Former referee Dermot Gallagher was also part of the punditry team and said: “If the referee (Stuart Atwell) sees it, it’s a penalty.
Shearer was not best pleased and replied: “Then why on earth are VAR not telling him he’s missed something? It’s a howler. He grabs his shirt.”
After the game, he added: “I can understand the referee but how is the VAR not picking that up?
“He has two hands on him, not looking at the ball. Can someone tell me how that is not a penalty?”
Shearer’s fellow pundit Ian Wright agreed that it should have been a spot-kick against his former club.
Ultimately, the game got away from Newcastle, thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
But if Newcastle had got that penalty in the first half, when it is hard to arge they didn’t deserve one, the game could have looked very different indeed.
That is the luck Eddie Howe needs which he is not getting right now.
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