Referee Jarred Gillett and the VAR officials were under the spotlight in Leeds United’s 1-1 draw against Tottenham in north London on Monday night.
Leeds walked away with a point, which kept West Ham alive in the survival race. However, the Premier League clash had it’s fair share of refereeing controversy.
The away side could have had a penalty earlier when Spurs defender Destiny Udogie brought down Dominic Calvert-Lewin. However, the Leeds striker was deemed offside by the tiniest of margins.
Leeds finally received a penalty for a foul on Ethan Ampadu, but it needed VAR intervention when it was clear that Mathy Tel hit the Leeds captain’s face.
Dermot Gallagher was left surprised by the penalty call between Tottenham and Leeds
Jarred Gillett waved away the initial protests from the Leeds players and didn’t even produce a yellow card for the Tel’s high challenge on Ampadu.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has conceded that he is surprised that Gillett needed VAR intervention to make that decision.
It was clear that Ampadu was fouled, and the clue was Tel caught the Leeds captain’s face with his boot while the latter was jumping, which showed how high the challenge was.
Gallagher said on talkSPORT: “I was surprised [that the referee needed VAR to intervene].
“The clue for me was the fact that Ampadu was actually jumping.
“That will show you how high the player’s foot was. It wasn’t just catching him on the face.
“He caught him on the face when jumping.”
The Whites should have had a second penalty
Destiny Udogie clearly appeared to pull down Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but Spurs escaped punishment because the Leeds striker was judged to be marginally offside.
The controversy centred around VAR seemingly not applying the same “tolerance rule” that was used earlier in the season when Florian Wirtz was awarded a goal against Fulham despite initially being flagged offside by the narrowest of margins.
The Premier League’s KMI panel backed that VAR decision at the time, but the same interpretation did not appear to benefit Calvert-Lewin in this instance.
Referee Jarred Gillett also missed a clear foul on Ethan Ampadu during the game, with VAR eventually stepping in to award Leeds the penalty they deserved.
Mr Gallagher that was dangerous tackle made by the spurs player and should have getting a card for dangerous play and it was a penalty maybe you have a soft spot for spurs Leeds were written off with staying in the premiership and they deserve there place despite negative remarks