The Premier League has confirmed why VAR approved Everton's penalty against Arsenal in the second half at Goodison Park on Saturday lunchtime.

were holding a comfortable first half lead against the Toffees thanks to Leandro Trossard's strike. However, they got off to the worst possible start to the second half when was adjudged to have fouled Jack Harrison.

Referee Darren England took a long look at the incident before awarding the penalty which had led to hope, from Arsenal's perspective, that the decision would be overturned. However, after a reasonable break in play, VAR approved of the penalty.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

forward Iliman Ndiaye showed composure to wrong foot David Raya in the Arsenal goal and equalise for the hosts. Following the incident, the Premier League released this statement on social media.

"The referee’s call of penalty for the challenge by Lewis-Skelly on Harrison was checked and confirmed by – with the contact deemed to be sufficient for a penalty and inside the area," the division's account wrote. A draw for the Gunners would not be a good enough result to keep their slim hopes of winning the Premier League alive.

Arsenal began the day 12 points behind Liverpool in the table and this gap would increase to 14 points on Sunday should the Reds beat Fulham in the early kick off. It had been suggested pre-match that the Gunners had turned their attention away from the title race and towards the Champions League with both Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard starting on the bench.

On Tuesday night, the Gunners will host Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.