Gusto should have conceded penalty for handball, panel says

Bournemouth should have been awarded a penalty at Chelsea for handball by Malo Gusto, the Premier League's Key Match Incidents (KMI) Panel has said.

Marcus Tavernier played a ball into the penalty area in the 54th minute. It hit the raised arm of Gusto as it dropped over his head but referee Sam Barrott waved away the penalty claims.

The game at Stamford Bridge on 30 December was 2-2 at the time, with no further goals scored.

The KMI Panel voted 4-1 that Barrott should have given the spot-kick and 3-2 that the video assistant referee (VAR), Craig Pawson, was wrong not to intervene.

The panel felt that "the ball hit the 'red zone' of his arm that was raised in an unjustifiable position".

The 'red zone' relates to a part of the arm which is considered a handball offence.

Yet Chelsea were denied a penalty against Aston Villa in similar circumstances just three days earlier. The KMI Panel unanimously voted it was correct not to give a spot-kick against Ian Maatsen. It happened in the 75th minute with the score 1-1, with Chelsea falling to a late Chelsea falling to a late 2-1 defeat.

It is the second time this season that Gusto has incorrectly escaped a VAR penalty. He caught the head of Brighton's Yankuba Minteh with his boot on 27 September.

Chelsea have benefited most from VAR errors this season, with three of the 13 which have been logged. The third is Fulham's wrongly disallowed goal at 0-0 in a game Chelsea went on to win 2-0.

Bournemouth have suffered two mistakes. The second was a missed red card for West Ham's Max Kilman in the 66th minute of the 2-2 draw on 22 November.

But Bournemouth have also gained, as Marcos Senesi should twice have received red cards for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity against Liverpool and Crystal Palace.