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Football London
Football London
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Elliott Jackson

Gary Neville delivers verdict on Paulo Gazzaniga penalty incident during Spurs vs Chelsea

Manchester United legend Gary Neville was left baffled after Anthony Taylor initially failed to award a penalty for Chelsea after "an assault" by Tottenham goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga.

The Spurs shot-stopper raced out of his line and after completely missing the ball with a high-boot, he collided into Marcos Alonso as the ball ran out of play just before half time.

With the score already 1-0 to the visitors thanks to Willian's opening goal, VAR overturned Taylor's initial decision, which was to award Tottenham a free-kick, instead of awarding a penalty to Chelsea.

Willian then stepped up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way and give Frank Lampard's side a 2-0 lead at the interval.

It's a scoreline that doesn't flatter Chelsea, who have dominated for large portions of the opening 45 minutes.

However, watching the replays back whilst awaiting the VAR decision, Neville was left bemused by Taylor's decision and insisted that the correct decision was a penalty.

"He misses the ball, that's a penalty, surely?" Neville said on commentary for Sky Sports Super Sunday.

"It's got to be a penalty. It's a penalty, for me. There was a foul given against Alonso, I don't know how that can be.

"He's (Gazzaniga) an erratic goalkeeper, it doesn't surprise me. It's ridiculous, it's an assault."

After VAR awarded the spot-kick, he added: "I was never in doubt, it was a penalty. WWF, reckless from the goalkeeper."

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