Ex-Premier League Referee Casts Verdict On Fulham vs Man Utd Handball

· GiveMeSport

Were Manchester United denied a spot-kick?

Former Premier League referee Graham Barber has delivered his verdict on the handball incident in the 1-1 draw between Fulham and Manchester United.

The Whites drew 1-1 with the Red Devils to move off the bottom of the Premier League table, as Matheus Cunha's late strike cancelled out a Lisandro Martinez own goal that looked to be sending Fulham to their first three-point haul of the season.

But before Cunha's late equaliser, United had an appeal for a penalty waved away by referee Peter Bankes, with VAR deciding not to intervene either. Martinez attempted to turn the ball back towards the Fulham goal, but Bassey blocked the cross with the ball hitting his arm, which was raised up near his face.

In an immediate statement, the Premier League Match Centre posted on social media:

> "The referee’s call of no penalty to Manchester United for a potential handball offence by Bassey was checked and confirmed by VAR."

And a transcript of the conversation between Bankes and the VAR room was also published.

> AR1: "It's close to his body - it has hit but his arm is close to his body."

> REF: "On-field decision is play on."

> VAR: "Arms close to his body. As seen - confirming the on-field decision to play on, exactly as described on-field."

Now, speaking exclusively to GIVEMESPORT , Barber, who spent almost a decade officiating in the top flight, said he understood why a penalty was not given.

Barber said:

> "I think one of these things with handball, in reality a lot of the time, nobody really knows really whether it's handball or not! > > "There are guidelines that the authorities are putting down, but it's all about interpretation and the thing for me on this is I know the intention has been taken away, but I genuinely felt the ball was very close to him, he wasn't far away, he didn't have a lot of time to react and one could potentially say he put his hands up to protect his face. It's all very, very subjective. > > "One of the things I'm very keen to see from VAR is to stick to the point where they're clearing up the clear and obvious error and I think the on-field decision was right, I think we have to give more credence to the referee on the field of play, he's there for a reason, he's there because he's one of the top referees in the country and for me, I think he got it right and I think VAR were right not to step in as it would have been a very harsh penalty."

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