The big flashpoints from the weekend's action were the decisions made by the referee and the result of the game.
Manchester City was defeated by the Gunners.
Ederson challenged Martin Odegaard and he went down. The movement of the ball suggested Ederson made contact with it. Stuart Attwell waved away the appeals, but replays appeared to show Ederson making contact with Odegaard before the ball. The VAR stuck with the on-field decision.
It was a tough call, but I think it was fair to go with the referee's decision.
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There was a lot of action in the Premier League on New Year's Day.
"VAR looked very closely, and it did look that way," said DeRMot. If you have two different angles, you get different versions. The dilemma is which picture you choose. I think it was the best thing to do because it was not conclusive by the VAR. I think people want the referee to make the decision.
I thought it was a difficult decision, but I still think Ederson took his foot. I think he takes enough of Odegaard's foot to give a penalty, but it's difficult to see what happened when you see the camera angles.
Sue Smith thinks that the on-field ref was the reason for it. One angle, it looked like he had taken his foot first, and the other angle, you wondered if he had got the ball first. I thought I would give a penalty if I had to make a decision.
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Sue Smith and Stephen Warnock discuss the penalty that was awarded to Man City when Bernado Silva was brought down.
Play continued after a clumsy challenge from Granit Xhaka on Bernardo Silva in the penalty area in the second half. Attwell did not give a penalty on the field. The referee changed his decision after the VAR told him to review the incident on the pitchside monitor.
"I think this one was a penalty, yes," DeRM OT said. He has a clear run once he is past Granit Xhaka. If you watch, he is reaching for his shirt when he catches him with his leg. It's a penalty because of the combination of both.
Sue Smith thinks it's a definite penalty. The shirt pull and the knee were the first things that came to mind when you saw the connection of Xhaka on Silva. I think it was Silva's knee that brought him down. I think the shirt pull was an added bonus. I think the frustration for the fans is that the referee didn't look at the other one and went and looked at that one.
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The former referee thinks that Sadio Mane should not have been sent off for catching Cesar Azpilicueta with a forearm.
Stephen said it was the combination of two incidents. I believe Xhaka gets his body position wrong. I think the situation is more difficult for the fans of the club because of the way in which Bernardo Silva goes down, it's a clear penalty.
The two teams played to a 2-2 draw.
The referee Anthony Taylor only issued a yellow card to Sadio Mane after he caught Cesar Azpilicueta with his arm.
I think it's a yellow card due to a number of things. It's not a wise challenge, but he leads with his forearm. He's using that to get up and off the ground. I don't think he throws it as a weapon, he doesn't hit him with the elbow. He doesn't size up Azpilicueta because he looks at the ball in the air. I would say yellow card. The challenge was not dangerous.
Better refereeing decisions being made.
Gary believes that decision-making in the league has improved.
The introduction of VAR was a difficult introduction into English football according to Gary Neville.
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Gary said that Romelu should apologize to his teammates for disrupting their preparations for the game.
We tried to go alone, but it didn't work out. More is being let go. The referees sometimes get things wrong, but there is a lot less wrong with the decisions we are seeing now than there was three years ago. I don't think that refereeing in this country is at an all-time low, I think it's the best it's ever been. That is not me with my hat on.
I will say something if I feel there is something to be said about something. I'm not here to make referees happy. I think better decisions are being made in more pressurised and quick environments than I have seen before. VAR is smoothing itself out and getting better, to the extent that I don't think it is ruining the game, because there are more accurate decisions being made on the pitch in real-time.
The best games I've watched since I was at Sky are the ones where VAR is used, such as the Spurs and Reds games, and the ones where some would say are wrong, such as Sadio Mane's elbow or Andy Robertson's sending off. I think we are doing well with the referees in the league.
