Eddie Howe 'happy' after Alexander Isak incident v Arsenal as Newcastle United impacted by FA Cup rule change

The FA Cup does not feature VAR until the fifth round onwards following a recent rule change. And Newcastle visit St Andrew’s on Saturday (5:45pm kick-off) looking to progress to that stage of the competition. The Magpies recently reached the Carabao Cup final after beating Arsenal 2-0 at St James’ Park on Wednesday night.

The semi-final and final of the Carabao Cup, as well as all Premier League matches, have VAR in place. Meaning Saturday’s match will be the last time Newcastle get to experience a game without VAR this season.

The Magpies’ recent win over Arsenal was impacted by VAR as Alexander Isak found the net after just three minutes on Wednesday night. The flag stayed down and the goal was initially given only for a lengthy VAR check to overrule the decision and disallow the goal.

Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe, as well as the sell-out home crowd at St James’ Park all celebrated Isak’s goal only for it to be ruled out. But The Magpies would still have the last laugh as goals from Jacob Murphy and Anthony Gordon ensured they progressed to the final as 4-0 winners on aggregate.

Eddie Howe ‘happy’ to see no VAR this weekend after Alexander Isak incident

The raw emotion of celebrating Isak’s goal was ultimately short-lived by VAR and potentially had a knock-on impact on the celebrations for Murphy’s goal shortly after.

“I think it always depends on the game and the incident and the outcomes,” Howe told The Gazette: “But I'm still quite happy when there's no VAR.

“I don't want those comments to come back to haunt me. But I enjoy when there's no flag and there's a goal, obviously, if it's for us. Knowing that the goal is there and there's going to be no pullback.

“[The Isak goal] was full of emotion, the whole stadium and of course, it was not given. But I've always said, and I can't contradict myself, the factual decisions, so the offsides, I can live with.

“If it’s offside, it's offside. There's nothing you can do about it.

“You've then got to go return and I thought the lads did really well to mentally deal with that and then go back into the game and score pretty soon afterwards. It's the other decisions that I sometimes have an issue with.”

FA Cup match officials for the match

With no VAR in place, the referee’s decision will be final in the match at St Andrew’s on Saturday.

Matthew Donohue will be the referee for the match, assisted by Paul Hodskinson and Nigel Lugg with James Bell as fourth official.

Aside from the cup competitions, Donohue has exclusively refereed Championship games this season and will take charge of the clash between Premier League side Newcastle and League One club Birmingham on Saturday.

Newcastle sit sixth in the Premier League table while Birmingham are top of League One.