Why VAR Ruled Out Bournemouth Goal v Newcastle But Not Arsenal’s v Spurs

Bournemouth cruised to a 4-1 victory over high-flying Newcastle United putting smiles on those from the south coast – but the scoreline could have been more in their favour if it wasn’t for VAR intervening on the hour mark of their memorable trip up north.

Eddie Howe’s winning streak came to a lamentable end at St James’ Park on Saturday afternoon as Justin Kluivert, son of football icon Patrick, netted his second hat-trick of the season, while Milos Kerkez’s 94th-minute strike put the cherry on the cake.

With the score poised at 2-1, Dango Ouattara thought he had given the visitors a two-goal lead after latching onto David Brooks’ teasing cross. Referee Stuart Attwell allowed the goal but, following a VAR review, the ball was found to be out of play moments earlier.

Replays of the incident showed that the outstretched leg of Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali, who was trying to keep the game live, had failed to keep the ball on the pitch. Reversing the decision, Attwell gave Bournemouth a corner kick.

Shortly after Ouatarra’s finish, upon intervention from those at Stockley Park, had been chalked off, the Premier League took to X (formerly Twitter) to explain the reasoning behind why the goal was not able to stand.

Recently, Arsenal were given the upper hand against Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby when given a corner that should have been a goal kick to Ange Postecoglou’s men after the ball last came off Leandro Trossard’s leg – so why didn’t VAR intervene in a match with such high stakes?

The resultant corner kick saw the Gunners score via Dominic Solanke’s own goal. However, VAR are forbidden from getting involved in giving decisions about which way either corners or throw-ins should be awarded – and then the goal was scored in the next phase of play – hence why the strike stood.

Related

Why VAR Couldn’t Disallow Arsenal Goal vs Tottenham After Corner Decision

VAR was unable to step in and rule out Arsenal’s equalising goal against Tottenham following a controversial corner decision moments earlier.

In Bournemouth’s case, the ball went out of play for a goal kick – but because this was missed by Attwell in the build-up, play continued and Ouattara notched his sixth of the campaign. So the key difference is that VAR was able to intervene because it was the same phase of play.