Dermot Gallagher: Newcastle United were denied a clear penalty in narrow defeat to Chelsea

Dermot Gallagher believes that Newcastle United should have been awarded a penalty during their 1-0 defeat to Chelsea on Sunday.

There was plenty of controversy at the Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon as Chelsea claimed a narrow win over Newcastle United. The defeat ended the Magpies’ incredible unbeaten run, as they suffered their first defeat in the English Premier League since the turn of the year.

Kai Havertz scored the only goal of the game in the 89th minute to give Chelsea the win. But Newcastle United were hard done by, as they were denied what looked like a clear penalty early in the second half when Trevoh Chalobah brought down Jacob Murphy inside the box by grabbing his shirt.

VAR took a look at the incident, but decided against sending referee David Coote to the pitch side monitor. Coote awarded Newcastle a corner instead. And former referee Dermot Gallagher believes that the incident should have resulted in a penalty for Newcastle United.

"“Chalobah grabs his shirt, trips him and shoves him,” Gallagher said on Sky Sports. “I think VAR looked at the upper body instead of the lower body.”“The referee gives a corner but Chalobah doesn’t play the ball. It should have been a goal kick or a penalty. By the referee giving a corner, he’s told everybody that he thinks Chalobah’s played the ball. Therefore, VAR could have said, ‘He didn’t play the ball, you might want to look at this’. If the referee had gone to have a look, he’d have given a penalty."

Kai Havertz, who scored the winner, was also somewhat lucky not to be sent off in the first half for a reckless elbow on Newcastle centre-back Dan Burn. The German international was only given a yellow card for the incident, but Gallagher feels that it was the correct decision as it was not a ‘malicious challenge or serious foul play.’

The defeat to Chelsea leaves Newcastle United in 14th place in the Bundesliga standings. Eddie Howe’s side will be looking to return to winning ways on Thursday as they take on Everton.