VAR and the handball rule have been thrown into the spotlight after a weekend of controversial decisions. Firstly, a handball against Crystal Palace’s Joel Ward was labelled ‘nonsense’ by manager Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson. He added: ‘Every week games are being decided on so-called penalty decisions.’ Twenty-four hours later there was a similar story at Tottenham after Newcastle were awarded a late penalty. Despite gaining an advantage, Steve Bruce said that ‘it ruins the spectacle of the Premier League’ after Eric Dier was adjudged to have handled in the area despite having his back to the ball
