Drama between Spurs and Arsenal puts referee on the spot

A thick skin is as important to any referee as a whistle.

Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has his penalty saved by Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris at Wembley. Picture: Getty Images

A thick skin is as important to any referee as a whistle. Anthony Taylor is from Wythenshawe in Greater Manchester, setting for the television series Shameless.

In November, there was outrage when he, a supposed Manchester United fan, was appointed for the Manchester derby. He brushed it off by having a brilliant game.

Taylor was given the 2017 FA Cup final involving Arsenal despite Arsene Wenger telling him to “f . . k off” and calling him “dishonest” in a match against Burnley a few weeks earlier. Taylor responded with an unfazed performance in which he bravely gave Chelsea’s Victor Moses a second caution for simulation and overruled a linesman’s incorrect call for Arsenal’s opening goal.

Referee Anthony Taylor indicates a penalty to Tottenham against Arsenal at Wembley. Picture: AFP

Taylor handled this full-blooded, fullbore north London derby mostly well, and made far fewer mistakes than the players in an error-strewn 90 minutes. And yet the focus ended on him, and on the whole issue of Premier League officiating. He’ll take responsibility for his own failings — but the biggest one was something he could not do anything about.

When the Premier League voted to delay introduction of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) until 2019-20, it was never clear why. Here was a game with a bearing on who will take next season’s Champions League spots, worth $90 million-plus, made unnecessarily contentious through the absence of the technology.

This derby needed VAR. Two penalties shaped its narrative and both were wrongly awarded. First Tottenham’s, given in the 74th minute when, defending a free kick, Shkodran Mustafi, in true numbskull fashion, barged Harry Kane.

Taylor correctly interpreted Mustafi’s action as a foul — the trouble was Kane was beyond Arsenal’s defensive line when the set piece was delivered.

Offside. Some argued not, claiming that rules that state players cannot infringe until they are trying to play the ball protected Kane, but what else was Kane doing? He hadn’t begun jumping — but was running at the ball, close behind it, and about to. Kane converted from the spot to become the fixture’s outright top scorer in the Premier League era.

He equalised Aaron Ramsey’s first-half breakaway goal and Spurs pushed for a winner but in the 89th minute, played in by Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the counter, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang toppled with Davinson Sanchez challenging him. Sanchez did no more than brush Aubameyang but Taylor was persuaded to award another penalty. A mistake but a tough one to get right, given the speed of play and Taylor’s angles. How a second opinion from VAR would have helped him.

Hugo Lloris saved Aubameyang’s meek spot-kick and Jan Vertonghen made an exceptional block to thwart the striker’s follow-up. And yet here was another glitch, and one Taylor couldn’t excuse. Vertonghen had encroached in the area at Aubameyang’s penalty. VAR would have put Taylor right.

There was little doubt about the stoppage-time red card for Lucas Torreira, for lunging recklessly at Danny Rose with his studs. Mauricio Pochettino was aggrieved a 12th-minute foul by Granit Xhaka on Kane went unpunished. On social media, Arsenal fans seethed about Sanchez putting his foot into Laurent Koscielny. Alexandre Lacazette stoked the flames by retweeting one complaint.

The first 15 minutes were of astonishingly poor quality, until high-level Premier League football broke out. Tottenham pushed up far too high with Sanchez committing himself and Lacazette turning to send clear Ramsey, who kept his nerve to round Lloris and score.

The Sunday Times