Tottenham were unlucky during the first half of their Premier League match against Manchester United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
After 25 minutes, an Alejandro Garnacho shot was blocked by Cristian Romero, resulting in an equal first half hour. Garnacho was confident the Spurs defender had handballed it, and replays revealed that it did strike the Argentine defender’s arm in the penalty area.
Romero’s arm was slightly outstretched, but he was found to be close enough to his body and not in an unnatural position to get away with the occurrence under the new proximity guidelines.
“Both of his arms are up, it’s whether or not that right arm is close enough to his body to get away with it, and I’d say maybe it just is,” Gary Neville remarked on Sky Sports.
“I think if it hits his left arm, he’s in big trouble because it’s above his head, but the right arm is just within that distance that referees have decided to stay clear of overturning the on-field decision in this first week of the season.”
