The Premier League have explained why Anthony Taylor's decision to award Brighton a penalty against Arsenal was upheld by VAR. In a strange situation, William Saliba was punished after catching Joao Pedro with his head.

The Arsenal defender attempted to beat his opponent in the air after the ball flicked up inside the Brighton box, only to come in too late, contacting with Pedro's head instead. As the attacker fell to the floor, surrounded by bodies in the area, Taylor pointed to the spot.

The incident caused confusion for its uniqueness with Paul Tierney and Dan Cook on VAR at Stockley Park quickly determining the decision to have been right. A statement by the Premier League Match Centre account on X (formerly Twitter) offers an insight into the thinking.

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"The referee’s call of penalty for a foul by Saliba on João Pedro was checked and confirmed by VAR, who deemed there was sufficient contact for a penalty," it wrote. Pedro converted the kick to level the game.

Arsenal had taken the lead thanks to Ethan Nwaneri's first-half strike. They were pegged back after the break, though, as Fabian Hurzeler's hosts started to assert themselves on proceedings.

Mikel Arteta may well be aggrieved that Pedro was even on the field to be fouled, let alone take the spot kick, after he got away with an attempted elbow on Brentford's Yehor Yarmolyuk over the festive period. VAR reviewed the incident on the south coast as well but didn't see it as evidence of violent conduct after no contact was actually made.

It was also Pedro who angered supporters for kicking the ball away whilst on a yellow card in the reverse fixture. That came in the same match as Declan Rice's now-infamous 'delaying the restart' red card.

Here, Pedro was awarded with a penalty for an aerial battle, not a scenario seen often. The situation appears to have been differently to a headed contest at a corner or from another cross. Play is usually halted there with a drop ball given instead.