KMI panel rules Sunderland shouldn’t have received penalty vs Arsenal

The Premier League’s KMI panel have ruled that Sunderland shouldn’t have received a penalty against Arsenal, and that all other big decisions in the game were correct.

Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images

The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel have ruled on all the major decisions in Arsenal’s recent trip away to Sunderland, determining that the only error was awarding a penalty to the hosts for Ezri Konsa’s challenge on Dan Ballard.

By a vote of 5-0, the five-person panel determined that the referee made an incorrect decision by giving the penalty. Though they did add that the error wasn’t clear enough for VAR to intervene, by a vote of 3-2.

The Premier League’s statement explained: “The panel unanimously felt that the referee’s call of a penalty for a holding offence was incorrect.

“Although it was a very untidy challenge in which Konsa initially had arms around Ballard, Ballard engages in a holding action which pulls Konsa onto him so they both fall to the floor.

“The non-VAR intervention was supported, 3:2, with the majority considering that the on-field decision was not a clear and obvious error, given the combined actions from both players.”

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

The panel largely supported all the other big decisions in the game. The decision to award Arsenal a penalty for the foul on Bukayo Saka was unanimously backed, as was the subsequent sending-off. The disallowed offside goal by Jurrien Timber was also deemed the correct call.

There had been some suggestions from Sunderland fans that they should have had another penalty for an alleged foul by Christos Tzolis on Nordi Mukiele, but the panel voted unanimously that the non-award was the correct decision.

The statement read: “The referee’s call of no penalty for a challenge by Tzolis on Mukiele was supported as correct with the contact below the threshold for a foul.”

Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images

The only other decision to split the panel was a potential foul by Brian Brobbey on Riccardo Calafiori. The call of no penalty was ultimately supported by the panel 4-1, but one voter felt both that it should have been a penalty for Arsenal, and that it should have led to a VAR overturn.

But overall, the penalty received by Sunderland for a ‘foul’ on Ballard was the only decision all voters agreed to be wrong.

Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images