Keith Hackett: Martin Atkinson got West Ham penalty v Newcastle wrong
We’re delighted to welcome former Premier League referee Keith Hackett as our exclusive West Ham United columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium.
Keith Hackett has insisted that Martin Atkinson got it wrong by handing West Ham United a penalty against Newcastle on Sunday.
The Irons got their season off to the perfect start with a 4-2 win at St James’ Park and were handed a penalty thanks to a so-called foul on Pablo Fornals.
Hackett believes that VAR should have intervened, and a review would have seen the decision overturned.
Speaking exclusively to West Ham Zone, Hackett said, “I think Steve Bruce is spot on.
“Martin Atkinson, in a good position, gives a penalty kick, he got it wrong. On first view, it looked, but on review, it didn’t.
“I would have liked VAR to come in, and for Martin to go to the monitor and reviewed it, if he had reviewed it, he would have overturned and not given a penalty kick.”
Wrong?
Michail Antonio had a nightmare couple of minutes after missing from a yard out and then missing the resulting penalty.
He made up for it later, but was it a penalty in the first place? Fornals got to the rebound first ahead of Jacob Murphy, and appeared to win the ball.
Whether there was enough contact, that depends on who you support, but it was one of those that could have gone either way.
There weren’t huge appeals, but Atkinson was in a good position to watch over the action and decided to point to the spot.
VAR is intervening less this season compared to last, and that certainly benefitted the Irons this time around.
In other West Ham United news, This is when the Irons will re-open talks for Nikola Milenkovic after Friday collapse – reports
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