The panel of former referees who usually settle these arguments cannot settle this one. Elliot Anderson’s arm made contact with the ball as he tussled with Enzo Le Fée inside the Manchester City box on Sunday, with the score at 3-2 to the hosts. Referee Rob Jones waved play on. VAR reviewed the incident and stayed with the on-field decision, judging the contact accidental.

Sunderland head coach Régis Le Bris was not persuaded.

“It’s hard to say, it looks like a handball to me. I don’t know [why it’s not given]. They don’t explain, they just say yes or no,” he told reporters.

Barber calls it subjective

Graham Barber, who officiated in the Premier League from 1996 to 2004, treated the decision as a coin flip in comments to GiveMeSport.

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“I think one week it could be given, another week it couldn’t,” Barber said.

He put the difficulty down to the removal of intent from the handball law, describing the change as one that has “made it very, very difficult to determine whether it’s handball or not.”

Hackett and Halsey see a clear penalty

Former Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) chief Keith Hackett was categorical. Hackett told Football Insider it was “a clear handball offence missed by the referee, but should have been picked up by VAR.”

He also rejected the PGMOL argument, briefed to Match of the Day, that the ball first struck Le Fée’s arm before touching Anderson.

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“The reality is that what we’re seeing at the moment with some of the bigger decisions is unacceptable,” Hackett said.

Ex-Premier League referee Mark Halsey saw the same intent Le Bris did, in comments carried by GiveMeSport.

“You can clearly see that Anderson deliberately moves his arm and pushes the ball away. I’m amazed that VAR didn’t look at that and recommend an on-field review to the referee,” Halsey said.

Gallagher backs Jones and VAR

Dermot Gallagher gave Sunderland no comfort. Appearing on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch with Jay Bothroyd, the former referee stood by both the on-field call and the VAR review.

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“I didn’t think it was a penalty when I saw it yesterday and I don’t think it’s a penalty now,” Gallagher said.

Rob Jones’s decision was not overturned, and PGMOL has offered no formal public statement on the review beyond the informal Match of the Day briefing that pinned the initial contact on Le Fée.

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