Head of Premier League refereeing body PGMOL, Howard Webb, has explained the process in which Anthony Gordon's goal for Newcastle United was allowed to stand against Tottenham. Despite the ball hitting Joelinton's hand in the build-up, match official Andy Madley let it slide and wasn't referred to a pitch-side check.

After a VAR review, led by Chris Kavanagh at Stockley Park, Spurs were left reeling on Saturday afternoon. The call was one of many that angered Ange Postecoglou, with the Tottenham boss calling out and bemoaning what he described as things not being equal.

Postecoglou didn't go as far as openly criticising the refereeing team but heavily insinuated that errors had been made. Newcastle went on to win the game 2-1 after Alexander Isak hit back to put the away side in front following Dominic Solanke's early opener.

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Appearing on Match Officials Mic'd Up, Webb not only went over why the call was right, in his view, but also revealed the audio between officials at the stadium and Stockley Park. "Kav (Kavanagh), for me, it hits his hand," Madley is heard saying.

"But it wasn't, it was accidental, it was smashed at him. I believe his hand was by his side. On-field decision is goal." Kavanagh responded: "Mads (Madley), confirming the on-field decision of goal. The arm is by the side, close to the body, it's completely accidental."

Going into extra detail, Webb added: "There's no doubt, the ball does strike Joelinton's hand. And then the goal is scored fairly quickly afterwards. But Joelinton doesn't score the goal. The ball goes to Guimaraes, I believe, and then it goes to Gordon, who scores.

"Of course, we can only penalise handball in certain circumstances. Not every contact with the hand or arm on the ball is something we would penalise.

"We see this situation and the VAR describes it really well. Joelinton's arm [is] in a really normal position as he's moving and then when the ball does strike him from quite close range, it's down by his side. The ball hits the arm and then ricochets off.

"He doesn't move the arm in the direction of the ball. The arm is moving naturally. He doesn't, importantly, make himself unnaturally bigger. His arm is close to his body so that's not a handball offence. He wouldn't be penalised with a penalty [against him] if he did that in his own penalty area.

"The only time he'd ever be penalised for that is if he scored immediately from that contact or if it [the ball] went directly in off that particular arm but that's not what happens here. So we agree it's not a handball offence.

"Tottenham might feel unlucky [because of] the way the ricochet played out and the goal was scored. But the laws of the game stipulate quite clearly that position isn't something that you would penalise."

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