Brighton were not awarded a penalty when Kaoru Mitoma appeared to be fouled by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the box; the match officials and VAR waved away the claims but PGMOL have now apologised to Brighton and admitted a spot-kick should have been
The PGMOL has admitted a mistake was made by the match officials and VAR when not awarding a penalty to Brighton in Saturday’s Premier League game against Tottenham.
Howard Webb, PGMOL’s chief refereeing officer, has apologised to Brighton and held talks with them about the decision-making process in the game.
It is the third apology the club have been given by PGMOL this season for decisions made on the field.
The scores were level at 1-1 when Kaoru Mitoma appeared to be fouled by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in the area, with referee Stuart Attwell initially declining to penalise the Tottenham midfielder.
The footage was looked at quickly by VAR Michael Salisbury at Stockley Park, before play resumed with no spot-kick being awarded.
It was one of three strong claims by Brighton – none of which were awarded to the visitors.
Defeat for Brighton saw them drop down to seventh, 10 points off fourth-placed Manchester United.
Brighton’s first apology from PGMOL this season came after referee David Coote and VAR Neil Swarbrick decided not to send off Fabinho for a nasty challenge on Evan Ferguson during the Seagulls’ FA Cup fourth-round victory over Liverpool.
The second came after Pervis Estupinan had a goal incorrectly disallowed in the 1-1 Premier League draw at Crystal Palace when the VAR drew the offside lines in the wrong place when reviewing the goal.
Following the defeat at Tottenham, Brighton defender Lewis Dunk hit out at the officials, saying: “There’s no point having VAR in the game if you’re not going to make big decisions like that. That changes everything, I just don’t understand it.”
Dunk also questioned why the officials decided to uphold the decision to disallow Mitoma’s earlier goal for a debateable handball but not overturn the call not to give the Japanese winger what looked to be a clear penalty, adding: “They can make the decision for the handball but can’t make the other ones.
“I think they made one tight decision for a handball but they don’t make a clear decision on the penalty.”
Stellini admitted at full-time that Spurs had were lucky with the VAR decisions, saying: “It is the first time this season we are lucky with the VAR. We have to enjoy this moment because we were many times not lucky with VAR. One time it happened for us.
“We respected many times VAR decisions. Today, everyone has to respect it.
“We conceded their aggression. We were not so aggressive. We were quiet, focused on the game only.
“I don’t want to speak about this. I want to speak about the game, the way we finished, fought and didn’t concede the goal.”
Source-Skysports
