After the first half of Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool, William Saliba conceded that a penalty should have been awarded due to Martin Odegaard’s handball.

Just moments after Gabriel had put Mikel Arteta’s team up early at Anfield, the Gunners captain tripped and handled the ball inside the penalty area.

Chris Kavanagh, the referee, ignored the vehement objections from the Liverpool players, and David Coote, the video assistant referee, opted not to tell the official to check the pitchside monitor again.

Even though it was not his call, Saliba thinks it should have been a penalty after Odegaard’s (albeit unintentional) involvement stopped Mohamed Salah from crashing into the Arsenal goal.

“Certainly,” I said. In his comments to Viaplay after the game, the 22-year-old laughed. “They have to accept it; I’m not the referee; it was a penalty.”

Following Saliba’s lead, Jamie Carragher, a former Reds defender and current Sky Sports pundit, asserted that a ‘blatant’ handball in Aston Villa’s 1-1 tie with Sheffield United had also gone unrecognized by VAR.

It appeared as though Blades defender George Baldock moved his arm towards the ball in the box, but he was let go for the judgment.

On Friday night, Carragher said in his analysis that he thought it was a good enough goal to warrant a penalty kιck, and he later emphasized this sentiment on social media.

The player who was named the game’s MVP is aware that it was a penalty. Once known as Twitter, Carragher now writes on X. Two obvious handball penalties in as many nights, and neither time has the video assistant referee intervened.