Everton should have been awarded a penalty in their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal according to a ruling by the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel
Thierno Barry clashes with William Saliba during the match between Everton and Arsenal at Hill Dickinson Stadium on December 20, 2025
Thierno Barry clashes with William Saliba during the match between Everton and Arsenal at Hill Dickinson Stadium on December 20, 2025(Image: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
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The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel have ruled that Everton should have been awarded a penalty in their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal at Hill Dickinson Stadium on December 20. With 57 minutes on the clock and the Gunners already ahead through a spot-kick of their own, which was converted by Viktor Gyokores, William Saliba floored Blues striker Thierno Barry in the area by kicking his foot.
At the time, the Premier League Match Centre’s explanation merely remarked how the contact “wasn’t deemed sufficient for a penalty,” but just 48 hours later, Fulham beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 thanks to a penalty converted by Raul Jimenez after an almost carbon copy challenge by Douglas Luiz on fellow Brazilian Kevin.
Everton manager David Moyes claimed watching that incident left him “half choking” and added: “It feels like certain clubs seem to get those decisions and other clubs don’t – we seem to be on the latter side of that.
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“They (PGMOL) don’t make it easy. They will have conversations, but they don’t want to because they find it very difficult to explain the decisions.”
However, the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel have subsequently voted 3-2 that the on-field decision by referee Sam Barrott to not award a penalty was incorrect.
They also voted 3-2 that video assistant referee (VAR) Michael Salisbury should have sent the match official to the monitor to change his decision.
Three panel members noted “Saliba carelessly kicks Barry with no contact on the ball” and they felt it was a clear and obvious error. Two panellists supported the no-penalty call because “there was not enough impact and a delayed reaction.”
Each KMI Panel is made up of five members. Three are former players or coaches, plus there is one representative each from the Premier League and Professional Game Match Officials.
There were two other judgements decided upon were the panel. They voted 3-2 that VAR Peter Bankes was correct not to advise that Newcastle United should be given a penalty in their 2-2 draw with Chelsea on December 20 when the Magpies former Everton winger Anthony Gordon went down under a challenge from Trevoh Chalobah.
Also, the panel delivered unanimous verdicts that the red card for Xavi Simons of Tottenham Hotspur in the 2-1 home defeat to Liverpool on December 20 red card and the Hugo Ekitike goal were both correct, despite Thomas Frank wanting the Reds’ second to be ruled out for a shove by the scorer on Cristian Romero.
On the Ekitike incident the panel stated “there’s not enough contact for a foul, particularly given the high threshold for penalising contact” while Romero’s subsequent stoppage time sending off for a second yellow card was supported 4-1.
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