Tottenham Hotspur supporters will be furious over an image to emerge from their win on Wednesday night which suggests they could have been awarded a penalty.
Antonio Conte’s side continued their run of lose one, win one with a comfortable 2-0 victory on the south coast against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Should this have been a penalty?
Yes
No
However, Harry Kane may feel hard done by having been denied a chance to double his tally from the penalty spot after seemingly being kicked in the box.
The incident (which was aired on Super Sport) came in the final minutes of the game at the Amex Stadium as the England captain dribbled into the box before being knocked by Shane Duffy.
And the image to emerge from the game against the Seagulls would suggest contact was certainly made with the 30-year-old defender’s studs seemingly pressed against Kane’s left thigh.
Despite going to VAR for a brief moment, the VAR operator, Lee Mason, informed referee Robert Jones to play on with not enough contact deemed to give the Lilywhites the spot-kick.
TIF Thoughts on the penalty incident…
We thought it was a strange call from the young referee as he did not give the penalty after Duffy swung his leg in the direction of the 28-year-old striker and clearly connected.
This would suggest that both the referee and VAR were perhaps unsure on how much contact the Brighton man made with Kane, though with the striker moving at speed in the box it wouldn’t take much to bring him down.
On the flip side of this, should VAR and the ref had thought that there wasn’t any contact, then surely Kane would have dived in an attempt to win the spot-kick? Yet he didn’t book him.
Either way, in our opinion with the leg slightly raised and studs seemingly catching Kane on the thigh as he moves at speed in the box, it looks as if it should’ve been a penalty to Spurs.
Of course, it wouldn’t have really made a difference to proceedings as Spurs would have still come away with all three points, but goal difference could still be a factor this season and decisions should be treated seriously regardless of the score and what minute the game is in, which was something Andrew Gaffney stated on Twitter.
In other news: ‘Arms spread in disbelief’ – Journalist reveals Tottenham ace left Conte furious