Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has commended those in charge of Newcastle United's defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday for an 'excellent use of VAR'.

Eddie Howe and his mean may wish to forget the events of Saturday afternoon rather quickly, given the result. Bruno Guimaraes had managed to level the scoreline midway through the first half though Justin Kluivert would go on to complete hat-trick before Milos Kerkez struck another for a 4-1 Cherries win.

Fourth in the table when the weekend started, Newcastle could yet slip down to sixth depending on Chelsea's result against Wolves later on. Not that it would have mattered much for the Magpies in the end, though with the match in the balance at 2-1 to the visitors, Dango Ouattara struck in the 61st minute to seemingly put the match out of sight.

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That was until VAR Peter Bankes reviewed the build-up for referee Stuart Attwell and his assistants, who with the naked eye could not have possibly judged the ball to have travelled beyond the byline for a goal kick before Sandro Tonali had made his touch that kept play alive. Subsequently the goal was ruled out and the scoreline remained 2-1 to Bournemouth until deep into injury time.

"It's an excellent use of VAR because the assistant couldn't see across the pitch like that," Gallagher praised, speaking on Sky Sports' Ref Watch on Monday.

This particular incident required further clarity as three days earlier Arsenal were the beneficiaries of the ball going out of play for a corner kick against Tottenham Hotspur when it had actually ricocheted one of their own players, then from the resulting set-piece they scored.

Gallagher added: "The difference here [from Arsenal], is a goal was scored. Once that happens, VAR can go back and check and if there's an offence in the build-up and that was a ball out of play. There's no time limit to phases of play, but the certainty is that ball did go out of play and it had to be a corner."