PGMOL issue response to Howard Webb VAR controversy amid claims he 'influenced' William Saliba red card

PGMOL have issued response to claims that Howard Webb 'influenced' the decision to red card William Saliba during last weekend's Premier League clash between Arsenal and Bournemouth.

In the 30th minute of Saturday's contest at the Vitality, Saliba was handed the first red card of his professional career after he dragged down Cherries forward Evanilson inside the Bournemouth half.

The French defender was initially shown a yellow card by referee Rob Jones but following a lengthy on-field review by VAR, the card was upgraded to a red.

Arsenal went on to drop three points as goals from Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert sealed a 2-0 win for Andoni Iraola's side.

But arguably the biggest talking point from Saturday's game was PGMOL chief Howard Webb, who could be seen speaking on his phone during the VAR check for Saliba's red card.

As the incident played out, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher took to X, formerly Twitter, to raise the question. "Was Howard Webb involved in the decision making of the red card for Saliba??" he wrote in a now-deleted post.

Richard Keys, the ex-Sky Sports presenter who now works for beIN Sports, also asked: "Who was Howard Webb texting? And why?"

After the full-time whistle, Sky Sports addressed the situation by saying that Webb can only listen to the communication between the VAR and on-field officials during matches, rather than get involved.

"There have been one or two people you might have seen on social media speculating about what Howard Webb was up to in the crowd, the head of the PGMOL," said host David Jones.

"He's got that earpiece in as well, he's got his phone out. But what we understand he is doing is listening to a match feed of the VAR officials and their communication with the on-field officials, as we do as broadcasters."

Jones added: "He has no input, he has no ability to talk to the officials who are actually making the decisions.”

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Jamie Redknapp, who was working for Sky as a pundit, added: "He's not trying to [influence things], he's watching the game. For anyone to think [he'd] have the audacity or the ego to think, 'I'm going to influence this game’ - we're talking about Premier League football now, I think it's nonsense for anyone to even question that.

"He's at the game, he's listening to the audio. He can't turn round to the referee. We've got VAR there and everybody looking at it, why would he even dream to get involved?"

According to The Times, the referees’ organisation Professional Game Match Officials Limited also commented on the situation, insisting that Webb was merely listening to communications and had no input into the VAR decision to send off Saliba.