The Premier League’s Key Match Incident [KMI] panel has unanimously agreed that Leeds United should have been awarded a penalty against Sunderland for Luke O’Nien’s grapple on Pascal Struijk during this month’s 1-0 home defeat.
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Leeds defender Struijk was hauled to the ground by his Sunderland counterpart in the 16th minute of the game but referee Stuart Attwell allowed the act to go unpunished. Leeds Live understands VAR Paul Tierney checked and cleared the incident, deeming it as not a clear and obvious error.
The KMI panel has now said that this was the wrong course of action. As per the BBC, the panel noted that O’Nien was “not looking at the ball, places his arms around the neck of Struijk in a clear non-footballing action and stops the Leeds United attacker from progressing towards goal.”
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After the game, Daniel Farke lamented some “crazy” refereeing calls during the defeat, adding: “Pascal Struijk, for example, normally we should have been rewarded with a penalty in the first half. It’s difficult for me to judge why this situation was not given.”
Luke O’Nien put two arms around the neck of Pascal Struijk during the set-piece -Credit:TNT Sports
Farke did not, however, push back against the handball penalty call against Ethan Ampadu, which led to Habib Diarra’s 70th-minute winner from the spot.
Reacting to the incident, Farke said: “My most important player, Ethan Ampadu, has somehow instinctively, intuitively moved with his arm and given a penalty away in the situation where it’s not even a chance for them.”
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The KMI panel was also unanimous that this was the correct call. It judged: “Ampadu clearly knocks the ball away with his arm in a secondary motion and the VAR intervention was supported as correct.”