The VAR decisions that have gone for and against Newcastle United amid Eddie Howe complaints

Eddie Howe has questioned the implementation of VAR after it failed to intervene on at least two Newcastle United’s incidents, just five days apart.

Beginning at the King Power Stadium on Sunday, Howe felt referee Peter Bankes was wrong to award Leicester City a penalty after James Maddison fell to ground under a challenge from Jamaal Lascelles.

VAR did not overturn the decision, nor did Bankes review the decision at his pitchside monitor.

Then, at Anfield on Thursday, Mike Dean decided not to stop play, despite Isaac Hayden down in the box with a head injury. In the same sequence of play, Diogo Jota equalised for Liverpool.

There was also an argument to say Ryan Fraser should have had a second-half penalty after a sliding tackle from Trent Alexander-Arnold, but Dean and VAR were unmoved by United’s appeals.

What did Eddie Howe say about VAR?

Howe believes VAR is too cautious to reverse the referee’s on-field decision, which he insists is the wrong approach.

He said: “When you look at the Leicester game, I didn’t feel it was implemented correctly for us at that moment.

“As I said after Sunday’s game, I felt the referee should have gone to review his own decision. If he does, I think he changes that decision.

“There’s an overemphasis on not reversing decisions to protect the referees, which I don’t think is the right thing.

“All we want is to get the decision right, so that’s where we are with VAR at the moment.

“Today, I don’t know about Ryan’s penalty, I’ve only seen it live.

“It’s a difficult one to complain much about but certainly other people’s opinions is it was a penalty.

“Did VAR look at it? I assume it did but the trend seems to be that they don't want to go about the original decision.”

What VAR decisions have directly led to Newcastle conceding?

• West Ham United home (4-2 defeat): Aaron Cresswell goal allowed after being originally ruled out for offside. 
• Aston Villa away (2-1 defeat): Penalty awarded after Jamaal Lascelles was judged to have handled the ball. Anwar El Ghazi scored. | Callum Wilson’s penalty overturned after being questionably offside in the build-up. 
• Southampton home (2-2 draw): Penalty awarded to Southampton after foul on Jamaal Lascelles on Adam Armstrong. James Ward-Prowse converted.
• Tottenham Hotspur home (3-2 defeat): Harry Kane goal awarded after originally ruled offside.
• Brighton away (1-1 draw): Ciaran Clark penalised for a foul on Leandro Trossard from a Brighton corner.

What VAR decisions have gone in Newcastle’s favour?

• Crystal Palace away (1-1 draw): Christian Benteke's goal was disallowed for foul by Marc Guehi on Ciaran Clark.
• Brighton away (1-1 draw): Roberto Sanchez was sent off for bringing Callum Wilson down through on goal.
• Norwich City home (1-1 draw): Newcastle awarded a penalty after handball from Billy Gilmour. Wilson scored.