PGMOL audio shows that there was ONE key error a VAR official made in Gordon goal vs Arsenal

The PGMOL have released the VAR audio of Anthony Gordon's winner for Newcastle against Arsenal and the official seemed to have made one key error.

The PGMOL have disclosed the audio on Gordon's goal against Arsenal following immense scrutiny from Gunners boss Mikel Arteta.

The goal, which went through three separate VAR checks before being passed, was labelled an "absolute disgrace" by Arteta, who believed that the ball had gone out of play, Gabriel Magalhaes was fouled and Gordon was offside in the build up to the goal.

Arsenal doubled down on their manager's comments in a statement the following day.

The audio of the incident has since been released on Sky Sports' Match Officials Mic'd Up, and the VAR official seemed to have made an embarrassing blunder.

Having already decided there was no conclusive evidence that the ball had gone out of play or that Joelinton had fouled Arsenal centre back Gabriel the last decision was on whether Gordon was offside.

At first glance the VAR official said: "Okay so he's clearly on. Looking at Gabriel body position there, his shoulder..."

However, in a rather humbling moment the assistant VAR had to remind his superior of the offside rule.

The law states that a player is in an offside position if any of their body parts, except the hands and arms, are in the opponents' half of the pitch, and closer to the opponents' goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent.

While the last opponent is normally the goalkeeper, in some scenarios, such as this one, it is an outfield player.

The assistant VAR interjected: "Yeah, but the second rearmost is the goalkeeper. So now you've got to decide where the ball is because it is being hidden from Joelinton here."

Despite the awkward interaction the pair ultimately concluded that there was "no conclusive evidence" of the goalscorer being being offside based on the angles on offer.

On the offside PGMOL chief Howard Webb said: "So again, no conclusive evidence that Gordon was offside when the ball was last touched. The VAR went through that diligently and identified no clear evidence to intervene to overturn the goal. The process was actually correct."

Topics: Football, Arsenal, Newcastle United, Premier League, VAR

Chris Byfield

Sport journalist with experience writing on football, rugby, boxing and the Olympics. I'm also a Crystal Palace fan. Please don't hold this against me.