Tottenham Hotspur scored a contentious own goal on Sunday.
Former Premier League referee Graham Poll has told The Mail that Mark Clattenburg was right to allow Kevin Wimmer’s own goal in Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-1 draw at Arsenal.
Both North London rivals clashed at the Emirates Stadium yesterday in a game which threw up its fair share of talking points.
The first, and arguably biggest, of said incidents came before the break when Wimmer headed a Mesut Ozil free kick into his own net, when Laurent Koscielny and Alexis Sanchez were on hand to reach the delivery had the Austrian centre-back not intervened.
Television replays proved that a couple of Arsenal players – not including Koscielny, Wimmer’s main threat – were standing in an offside position at the moment when Ozil delivered the cross.
And Poll, speaking to The Mail, has offered his verdict on whether Clattenburg and his officials made the correct call.
He said: “Mark Clattenburg and his assistants performed excellently in this match and got the key decisions spot on.
“As Mesut Ozil played a free-kick into the Tottenham area there were two Arsenal players in offside positions.
“Kevin Wimmer, under pressure from Laurent Koscielny, headed the ball into his own net but, as Koscielny was not one of those offside, the goal was rightly allowed to stand.”
Clattenburg was called into action again early in the second half when he awarded Mousa Dembele a penalty after the big Belgian was fouled by Koscielny, with Harry Kane – making his first appearance since mid-September – smashing home from 12 yards.
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