After Anthony Gordon’s penalty for Newcasle Utd was saved by Jordan Pickford last Saturday, there was more penalty drama later in the match when Dan Burn appeared to impede Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the second half, denying him a clear goal-scoring opportunity.
The incident was sent to VAR at the time, and audio from the officials has now been released by the Premier League.
As per Sky Sports, match referee Craig Pawson immediately said after the challenge: “No. Not for me, not for me. There’s a challenge between two of them, not for me.”
VAR Chris Kavanagh then replied: “Gets his foot in front, he kicks him. It’s not a penalty. That is not a penalty. The attacker kicks the back of the defender.”
In his post-match press conference, Sean Dyche said: “I don’t know where it is with penalties. I know our record is awful, we don’t get them. If that is in the middle of the pitch, everyone in the stadium thinks it is a foul.”
Howard Webb told Match Officials Mic’d Up: “I don’t think it’s a penalty either. I think it’s a really good on-field judgment as well. We see that Nick Pope makes a save and the ball rebounds and then two players, Calvert-Lewin and Burn, are moving towards that loose ball.
“Importantly, Burn moves in a straight line in a normal way and gets his foot in front of Calvert-Lewin. He doesn’t deviate his foot into Calvert-Lewin or move towards him in that way.
“Of course we see Calvert-Lewin then swinging to take a shot and making contact with Burn from behind, but Burn’s foot is already there in a pretty normal way so I don’t think it’s a foul by Burn and I think it’s all a normal coming-together between the two players and a good judgment on the field.”
An explanation was put out on the large screens at Goodison Park, reading: “The referee’s call of no penalty for the challenge between Calvert-Lewin and Burn is checked and confirmed by the VAR, deeming Calvert-Lewin kicked the back of Burn’s leg.”
Calvert-Lewin was flabbergasted by the ruling and said: “I think everyone can make their own mind up when they see it back. I’ve seen it back and I don’t know what more you have to do to get a penalty.
“I’m about to put the ball in the back of the net and obviously he’s obstructing me. It’s frustrating and like I say, those things over the course of a season hopefully pay you back and I didn’t get the one here but hopefully I get the next one.”