Newcastle looked set for a strong showing at St James’ Park when summer arrival Nick Woltemade headed past David Raya in the 34th minute. ..Continue Reading
Throughout the contest, multiple controversial decisions and VAR interventions were made by the officiating crew, which included Gillett as referee, assistants Ian Hussin and Scott Ledger, fourth official Anthony Taylor, and VAR Darren England with assistant VAR Steve Meredith.
In the 14th minute, Arsenal were initially given a penalty before VAR stepped in to overturn the call.
Viktor Gyokeres chased down Jacob Murphy’s backpass and was brought down by Magpies goalkeeper Nick Pope.
Gillett pointed to the spot, but replays indicated that Pope may have made contact with the ball first.
The decision was reversed, and Gillett delivered the update to the crowd.
“After review, the Newcastle goalkeeper plays the ball and there is no foul,” Gillett said.
“The final decision is drop ball.”
Not everyone accepted the ruling, including Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, who argued that VAR should not have stepped in “if it is not a clear and obvious error”.
Mikel Merino headed in Declan Rice’s curling delivery in the 84th minute to equalise for the visitors.
Just a minute later, Arsenal defender Gabriel attempted a sliding challenge on Anthony Elanga, and the ball struck his arm inside the box. Gillett decided it wasn’t a penalty, and VAR backed the call.
On X, The Premier League Match Centre said: “The referee’s call of no penalty was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the ball deemed to have deflected off Gabriel’s shin and onto his arm.”
Gabriel later scored the match-winning header deep into stoppage time.
Despite the win, many Arsenal fans voiced frustration with Gillett’s officiating on social media.
One said: “Jarred Gillett is literally a Liverpool fan. He’s refed 4 out of our 6 games thus far. The league is cooked.”
Another added: “Jarred Gillett has been involved in four out of six of Arsenal’s Premier League games so far this season. There are over twenty Premier League officials… How can this be right? His bias couldn’t be more obvious this afternoon.”
A third claimed: “Jarred Gillett is an LFC fan who’s been involved in 4/6 of our PL matches so far.”
Gillett, originally from Australia, has previously been linked to Liverpool fandom, with FOX Sports commentator Brenton Speed appearing to confirm it during a podcast shared by Liverpool.com.
“He [Gillett] had to fill out a document when he agreed to join the referees’ board over there, and you have to fill in the team you supported as a boy/man, and he said it was Liverpool,” said Speed.
“So that means you’re taken off all their games, home or away.”
Because of this affiliation, he is reportedly excluded from officiating matches involving Liverpool or Everton, but remains eligible to referee games featuring Manchester United and Arsenal.
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