Newcastle United fans deliver emphatic 81% VAR verdict v West Ham amid agreement from ex-Everton man

As Eddie Howe’s side pushed for a route back into the game, Callum Wilson was introduced to proceedings for the first time this season, playing the last 20 minutes alongside Alexander Isak up-front. Whilst chances were at a premium, Wilson was involved in the game’s main controversial moment.

Just minutes after coming onto the pitch, Wilson was bundled to the ground by Konstantinos Mavropanos as the pair leapt for a header in the Hammers box. Despite appeals from Wilson and the majority inside of St James’ Park, referee Craig Pawson waved away the pleas.

VAR looked at the incident but decided to stay with Pawson’s on-field call. The Premier League revealed that the VAR deemed the ‘contact was not sufficient’ to overturn the initial decision.

Following the match, the Shields Gazette conducted a poll to see what readers thought of the decision not to penalise Mavropanos. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority (81%) thought that VAR should have overturned the decision and give Howe’s side a chance to halve the deficit from the spot.

However, there was no such agreement on Sky Sports Monday Night Football with Jamie Carragher and Theo Walcott disagreeing with each other on their view of the incident:

Jamie Carragher’s view…

“He jumps and the ball is close enough to him. He’s never really going to get the ball, but I think it’s hard to give a penalty. His left arm comes across but it’s not both arms. The ball is going over his head.

“People now want penalties for everything, that’s not a penalty, it’s not. It’s a contact sport.”

Theo Walcott’s view…

“You centre-halves are clever. I’ve watched it again a few times now and watch his [Mavropanos’] left leg come across and disrupt his standing position there.

“For me, it could have been a penalty. It could have been. It’s probably one of those that would have been given outside the area.

“You defenders seem to get away with a lot these days, that's for sure.”