‘He doesn’t catch him’ - Dermot Gallagher issues verdict on controversial Arsenal vs Man Utd moment

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has weighed in on some of the controversial decisions during Arsenal’s win over Manchester United.

Arsenal had to show resilience to overcome the Red Devils, going behind before quickly responding through Martin Odegaard. A draw looked likely, but Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus struck in stoppage time to secure all three points in dramatic fashion.

Though, the win was not without its controversy, with a VAR-ruled out United goal, a couple of penalty shouts and even more for referee Anthony Taylor to deal with at the Emirates Stadium.

Former referee Gallagher has now had his say on the incidents, starting with the Garnacho goal that was ruled out for offside.

Gallagher said on Sky Sports: “This is what VAR is for - if they put the lines across and say it is offside, it is just offside. Once you put the lines on, you can see that Gabriel has not tilted quite as far forward as Garnacho.”

Some United fans also thought Rasmus Hojlund should have been awarded a penalty, but referee Taylor was having none of it on the day.

“There’s physical contact but the defender is just too strong,” Gallagher added. “Hojlund pushes the ball too far and Gabriel holds his ground, he doesn’t do anything wrong.

“You see this all the time and I’d have been stunned if Anthony Taylor had given anything for it.”

Another incident some fans were unhappy about involved a Jonny Evans tussle in the seconds leading up to Rice’s late goal, but Gallagher thinks the incident was best left alone, given it could have gone either way.

He continued: “It could have been a foul the other way. They’re both grappling with each other. In the end, Evans throws Gabriel out of the way. It’s a difficult call. The referee has got a perfect view. It could have easily gone the other way which would have been a penalty.”

Arsenal fans were not too happy about Kai Havertz’s ruled out penalty claim, but Gallagher sees reason in the decision. He said: “Hand on heart, when I saw that yesterday, I thought penalty. When I saw the second replay, I changed my mind 100 per cent.

“For me, I thought he tripped him, but when I saw the replay, Wan-Bissaka places his foot and Havertz goes into him. So the right decision has been come to and that is what we want, we talked about it last week.”

And as for Lindelof dodging a red card, the former referee concluded: “It was checked by VAR and it was felt it was a yellow card. It can’t be denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity because he’s too far out on the wing. He doesn’t catch him on the head. It’s a strong yellow card.”