Gary Neville claims officials made the ‘CORRECT’ decision to award Newcastle’s winner against Arsenal, after Mikel Arteta said the decision was an ‘absolute disgrace’

Gary Neville has claimed that officials made the ‘correct’ decision to award Newcastle’s controversial winner against Arsenal.

Anthony Gordon struck in the 64th minute to give Newcastle a 1-0 win, but there was much drama that followed the contentious goal.

The goal went through three separate VAR checks — to confirm Joe Willock kept the ball in play before crossing, a potential foul on Gabriel by Joelinton and whether Gordon was offside.

After a lengthy analysis, VAR officials ruled that it would stand leaving Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta fuming in his post-match interviews. 

But Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has suggested that officials did make the right call in the fiercely contested match at St James’ Park.

Stuart Atwell (middle) was at the heart of controversy after VAR awarded the contentious goal

Neville took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share his thoughts on the incident

Neville wrote on X: ‘I thought the decision for the Newcastle goal was correct. 

‘The ball out was inconclusive at best, definitely not a foul for me and if the VAR can’t evidence offside the onfield decision should stand.’

In response to Neville’s post, one fan took a still image from the incident that appeared to show Newcastle’s Joelinton impeding Gabriel. The caption read: ‘Arms fully extended’.   

Neville then issued another response, as he said: ‘He’d already bent forward to flick it on and he threw his legs back! I’ve tried to do it. It wasn’t a foul’.

Clearly, Neville’s views are not shared by Arsenal boss Arteta, who lambasted the official’s decisions during his post-match interview.

The Arsenal boss said: ‘How the hell did this goal stand up? It’s incredible. I feel embarrassed. It’s an absolute disgrace that this was allowed. For many reasons it’s not a goal.

‘It’s so difficult to compete at this level. This is nowhere near the [refereeing] level to describe this as the best league in the world. I feel sick to be part of this.’ 

Arteta later added: ‘The penalty on Eddie, there is a lot of things. The question is it’s not a goal, it’s simple. For a goal there are certainly things that are not allowed in football.

The first issue VAR checked was whether Joe Willock managed to keep the ball in play

Officials then tried to determine whether this was a push on Gabriel by Joelinton

Arteta claimed the decision to award the goal made him ‘feel sick’ in his post match interviews

‘I have to stand here and explain, we lost three points. There’s too much at stake. It’s embarrassing. It’s not in their hands, I have to praise the players how they play here.

‘It’s incredible how they competed against this team, it makes me sick. I feel sick to be part of this.’

Arsenal were unable to overturn the 1-0 deficit with the Gunners suffering their first Premier League defeat of the season and losing key ground in the title race.

Arteta’s side are third in the Premier League, three points behind reigning champions Man City after their 6-1 home win over Bournemouth.