‘Booted him in the follow through’ – Lineker gives his take on penalty decision

Gary Lineker has criticised Michael Oliver’s decision to award Arsenal a penalty for Davinson Sanchez’ challenge on Alexandre Lacazette.

Tottenham were second best for the majority of the first-half but it was the away side who took the lead against the run of play when Erik Lamela produced a sensational rabona finish.

Spurs were pegged back just before the half-time whistle after Martin Odegaard’s deflected effort brought Arsenal level.

With the game finely poised at 1-1, Oliver decided to point to the spot just past the hour mark after Lacazette went down inside the penalty box, claiming to have been fouled by Sanchez.

Although the replays showed that the Arsenal man had only made contact with Sanchez after he had scuffed his shot, VAR decided not to overturn Oliver’s call from which Lacazette stepped up to bring the Gooners level.

Spurs were not aided by Erik Lamela’s 76th minute sending off in their efforts to claw themselves back into the game.

A ten-men Tottenham side threw the kitchen sink at the home side in the final stages but they could not find an equaliser, with Lacazette’s penalty proving the match-winner.

Mourinho was critical of the penalty call after the game and Lineker agreed with the Spurs boss’ assessment of the incident.

Spurs Web Opinion

It was pretty evident that Sanchez was trying to block Lacazette’s shot and that the Arsenal man only went down after he miskicked the ball. However, VAR was never going to overturn the decision after Oliver had made the initial call simply because of the fact that there was contact between the two players and the ball had not gone out of play. VAR certainly would not have intervened to give a penalty had Oliver not blown his whistle.

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