Arsenal's slender victory at Man Utd analysed by for Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher in Ref Watch

Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher is back for a new season of Ref Watch on Sky Sports News and starts by taking a look at the key incidents from Arsenal's 1-0 win at Man Utd.

Should Riccardo Calafiori's winning goal for Arsenal have been disallowed for a foul on goalkeeper Altay Bayindir? Should Matheus Cunha have won a penalty after a foul by William Saliba?

Also, Dermot discusses all the other major refereeing talking points from the opening weekend.

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Man Utd 0-1 Arsenal

'How is that NOT a penalty?!' | Heated Ref Watch debate over Saliba challenge on Cunha

INCIDENT: Matheus Cunha went to ground in the penalty area after a challenge from William Saliba. Did Saliba get the ball? Referee said no penalty.

DERMOT SAYS: I wasn't convinced it was a penalty. What I would say is if it is going to be a penalty it's one the referee is going to give. VAR will not get involved in this.

Jay Bothroyd on Sky Sports News:

"How is that not a penalty? It's a guaranteed penalty.

"If it happens on the halfway line it is a free kick.

"Saliba has hit his foot and the ball has gone nowhere. If Saliba isn't there Cunha doesn't go down. It's a penalty."

'No foul on Bayındır'

INCIDENT: William Saliba stood in close contact with Altay Bayındır as Arsenal score at Old Trafford - was it a foul?

DERMOT SAYS: Not a foul. Not a foul at all. If anything the goalkeeper puts his hand on the player.

Jay Bothroyd on Sky Sports News:

"He hasn't been strong enough, he's caught out of position and that mistake has cost Man United the game. If he thinks it's a foul, go down, at least you've got a chance of winning a free kick. It's just poor, you need to be stronger."

Chelsea 0-0 Crystal Palace

'Guehi is interfering - that's the law'

INCIDENT: Eberechi Eze free kick disallowed by VAR after Marc Guehi interfered with the wall.

DERMOT SAYS: This is the law. If a wall is set up with three or more players, opposition players have to be a metre from it. Often you see forwards standing in front of the wall. In this case, Guehi is stood between two players.

Where they set up, Guehi initially is not deemed to be in the wall, he's between two players to the right of the wall, but as the ball is kicked, Guehi's movement is towards Caicedo and without doubt, he's not a metre from it.

You don't see it often. Most free kicks don't result in a goal, and because this one does, VAR has to check it.

It was all about Caicedo moving into the wall and Guehi being in contact with him.

The genie is out the bottle now.

'VAR is against goals'

Micah Richards said: "There can't be any complaints but it feels like VAR is anti-goals."

Roy Keane added: "Attacking teams now need to be aware of this rule. We see players in there blocking and being a nuisance all the time.

"Guehi's almost gone too far in being a nuisance and shoving players about. He just needed to do it a little bit."

Liverpool 4-2 Bournemouth

'VAR dismissed incident too quickly'

INCIDENT: Senesi avoids punishment after appearing to handle the ball as the last defender.

DERMOT SAYS: I think this is a really interesting situation. The VAR, for me, has looked at it too quickly and cleared it.

I think he's seen the ball fly up off Senesi and has not watched the second part.

He's seen the ball hit the elbow off the knee and stopped looking, he hasn't looked for the second swipe. If he sends the referee to the screen, the referee has all options. He probably sends Senesi off because Huge Ekitike is going to be away. The only doubt is, is it too far from goal? But this is a class forward.

If it goes to the screen he would have been sent off. It was a mistake and fortunately it didn't affect the outcome of the game.

Tottenham 3-0 Burnley

'Dubravka rightly penalised for holding ball'

INCIDENT: Burnley goalkeeper Dubravka gets penalised for holding the ball for more than eight seconds, resulting in an opposition corner.

DERMOT SAYS: If you watch, he does take too long. I get a bit concerned with the eight seconds, because we don't want to have to get the stop watch out. But he's making no attempt to release the ball.

It's a deterrent. That's why the rule is there. No referee wants to have to apply that rule, they want goalkeepers to get rid of the ball and keep the game moving faster.

Jay Bothroyd on Sky Sports News:

"I don't know why he's holding onto the ball for so long, it's about 12 seconds."

Sky Sports to show 215 live Premier League games from this season

From this season, Sky Sports' Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.

And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games this season will be on Sky Sports.

(c) Sky Sports 2025: Arsenal's slender victory at Man Utd analysed by for Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher in Ref Watch