In the aftermath of the decision, the Premier League Match Centre X account released a statement confirming that: “The referee’s call of penalty for a foul by Saliba on João Pedro was checked and confirmed by VAR, who deemed there was sufficient contact for a penalty.”
Pedro would then step up to the spot and covert the penalty to restore parity, but fans online were left baffled by the decision. One tweeted saying: “Never ever seen this type of foul for a penalty given before… Only against Arsenal,” while another added “Another day, another penalty you’ve never seen before and will never see again.”
Interestingly, this isn’t the only controversial decision that has gone in Brighton’s favour in recent weeks. Pedro himself was fortunate not to be sent off for swinging an elbow at Mikel Damsgaard during a game last month against Brentford.
Prior to that, Cameron Archer saw what looked to be a perfectly fair goal ruled out for offside when Southampton visited the Amex. It was alleged that goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was obstructed by a player in an offside position, despite the player in question not being in range of the shot-stopper or in his eyeline.
