Eddie Howe: VAR misuse on penalty call cost Newcastle against Chelsea

LONDON: Eddie Howe believes the misuse of VAR and inexplicable refereeing decisions cost Newcastle United precious Premier League points.

Kai Havertz fired Chelsea to a controversial victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, bringing to an end the Magpies’ impressive nine-game unbeaten run.

But that 90th-minute winner was still not the main story from West London, as two huge VAR calls went against Newcastle.

The first, a review of an elbow by match-winner Havertz to the head of Dan Burn, was not upgraded to a red card, despite replays showing the dangerous nature of the challenge.

And the second, which enraged Howe, was the call not to award a second-half penalty to Newcastle, despite a clear and obvious shirt pull and mistimed challenge by Trevoh Chalobah in the area.

“I can’t look past the penalty. I am hugely disappointed with the decision — and how they’ve reached that decision,” said Howe. “It is a clear penalty, Jacob has had his shirt ripped off his back near enough, goes down in the box, clear penalty.”

“How the referee doesn’t give it on the pitch, I can understand that. But how the VAR doesn’t give it and get him to review the decisions. If they did, he would have seen he got it wrong.”

Earlier this season Howe and Newcastle wrote to the Premier League asking for an explanation on decisions that went against them, including controversial penalty calls against Manchester City and Leicester City, as well as a goal that they believe should not have stood at Liverpool.

Will the club be doing the same this time around after Coote’s display?

“I don’t know,” he said.

“I am at a loss to see how they’ve come to that decision, how they have worked that. I think, whatever team you support, you will have seen that