Football writer Charles Watts has slammed referee Andy Madley after his questionable performance in the most recent Arsenal game.

What’s the word?

In their most recent Premier League outing, the Gunners had to settle for a point at the Emirates against rivals Newcastle United as their clash finished 0-0. The game, however, was a pretty feisty affair with four Arsenal players picking up a yellow card, while four away team players were booked too (as well as Jamaal Lascelles despite not even getting on the pitch). On top of that, the Gunners were also denied two penalties, with Mikel Arteta dubbed 'scandalous'. While talking about the first possible foul – when Dan Burn seemed to pull Gabriel Magalhaes' shirt in the box – Watts weighed in with his thoughts on it all. While talking on YouTube the journalist said Madley had a 'shambolic' day but blamed VAR for the key penalty decision instead of the referee. He said: "I mean, how is that not a penalty? He had got away from Dan Burn, he was ahead of him and he got pulled back, plain and simple. "Andy Madley, it was a shambolic refereeing performance. He was awful from start to finish. "But I don't really blame him in that position because it's really hard. It's a congested box, the ball is coming in, you can't see everything, it is difficult. "But how VAR do not just say: 'Hold on we've got another look at this, there is a pretty blatant shirt pull in this, maybe you want to go and have a look.' That's who I'm blaming for that exact decision."

Depth needed?

Without that penalty decision going their way – as well as the shout for another during stoppage time when Granit Xhaka's cross hit Jacob Murphy's arm – it's safe to say it just wasn't Arsenal's day. However, it seems as though the referee failed to win over either team with his performance. Indeed, former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer took to Twitter to question some of the calls during the game too. He wrote: "Every foul doesn’t have to be a yellow card, referee." At least the referee wasn't being biased then... Still, whenever two teams near the very top of the table meet, you want a top performance from the officials, too. And on this occasion, it really feels as though that wasn't the case.