What a dramatic end to the north London derby on Saturday lunchtime.Arsenal led through Aaron Ramsey’s strike in the 16th-minute.But the game came to life with 15 minutes remaining.Harry Kane appeared to be offside from Christian Eriksen’s free-kick before he was fouled by Shkodran Mustafi.The assistant referee kept his flag down and referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the penalty spot.
Kane slotted the spot-kick away to set up a grandstand finish.
And what a dramatic finish it was.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was brought down in the box by Davinson Sanchez but the striker saw his spot-kick saved by Hugo Lloris.
Seconds later, the ball fell to Aubameyang just yards out and Jan Vertonghen somehow managed to block his goal-bound effort.
We say ‘somehow’ but images have emerged showing that Vertonghen had clearly encroached into the penalty area as Aubameyang was taking his penalty.
According to the Fifa laws of the game, “a penalty must be retaken if a defender enters the penalty area and the kick does not result in a goal.”
And the fact that it enabled Vertonghen to block Aubameyang’s effort, surely it should have been re-taken.
After the match, Arsenal boss Unai Emery unsurprisingly mentioned VAR.
"Today, for me, the referees were with a big personality but it is not enough to make the best decisions in difficult actions in the box, for them [Spurs] and for us. VAR is coming for them,” he said about some of the decision his side suffered during the game.
You can understand where’s he’s coming from…