The decision to allow Newcastle United's equaliser in their win over Tottenham Hotspur will continue to dominate the headlines after a thoroughly enjoyable game of football in the capital on Saturday.

The end-to-end encounter finished 2-1 to the visitors, with Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak cancelling out Dominic Solanke's fourth-minute strike. Spurs only held the lead for less than two minutes as Gordon finished off a move that started with a potential handball call.

As Lucas Bergvall attempted to clear his lines in the middle of his own half, the ball struck Joelinton's left arm and bounced into the path of Bruno Guimaraes. As Tottenham players appealed, the Brazilian fed in Gordon and Newcastle were back on level terms.

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VAR immediately checked the replays and allowed the goal to stand, with the Premier League's 'Match Centre' X account stating that decision was taken due to the fact Joelinton's arm was by his side, in a natural position and the contact was accidental.

Plenty weren't satisfied with that explanation, including Tottenham-supporting pundit Jamie O'Hara, who may have been speaking from a slightly biased position given his love for Ange Postecoglou's side “It’s a handball, how can you give that as a goal?” wrote the former Spurs midfielder on social media.

“It’s put him on goal, what a joke. You can see Ange is absolutely seething off that goal be given, it’s an awful decision.”

The controversial call was also been talked about on the other side of the world as beIN Sports, based in the Middle East, debated the issue during their half-time coverage of the game. Those working for the channel insisted their understanding of the decision was that Joelinton's handling of the ball didn't lead directly to a goal, due to the fact he didn't assist or score from the incident - and was more than 30 yards out from goal when Bergvall's clearance struck him.

Reacting to that news, pundit Andy Gray said: "Well, I have to say, I'm kind of torn with this one because we're getting information that it wasn't a handball because it didn't lead directly to a goal. Well, I'm sorry, it did.

To which co-host Richard Keys added: The definitive on this is: [It was] Unintentional and it didn't lead directly to a goal. If that ball drops for Joelinton and he scores? Handball.

Gray continued: "So to me that's nonsense because if he had handballed it, there wouldn't have been a goal. Agreed? So the handball, one pass later, Gordon scores. One pass. So if you're telling me that that handball hasn't led directly to a goal, I'm not having that."

Quizzed about the incident at full-time, Postecoglou shut down reporters attempting to ask for his opinion, while Eddie Howe admitted he wasn't fully sure of the rules surrounding the flashpoint.

“For me the rules are slightly unclear,” Howe told the BBC. “I don’t know where the cut off point is. Of course it hit his hand – I cannot deny that. But from that point onwards I thought it was a really good goal.”