Premier League make official announcement on Everton v Arsenal controversy
Darren England left the Everton fans baffled in the first half of their Premier League clash with Arsenal on Saturday.
Everton risk suffering their first Premier League defeat at Goodison Park since mid-January after Leandro Trossard’s 34th-minute goal gave Arsenal the lead on 5 April.
David Moyes’ side failed to register a single shot on target in the first half, but that is not to say they did not threaten the North London giants at all.
Premier League react to Jake O’Brien controversy
Everton had a sight of the goal when Jake O’Brien caused the Arsenal defenders headaches following a Jack Harrison free-kick from the right-hand side.
With the Ireland international lurking, the Gunners had to scramble to clear their lines on that occasion However, there was a significant pause in play after that, leaving everyone in the stadium confused.
| Everton | Stat | Arsenal |
| 3 | Shots | 6 |
| 0 | Shots on Target | 3 |
| 34% | Possession | 66% |
| 121 | Passes | 240 |
While it soon became evident that the delay was due to a VAR check, not many were sure about what incident was being checked, with Stuart Pearce suggesting on talkSPORT that Ben White had initiated contact on O’Brien.
Match referee England, though, went on to dish out a yellow card to the Everton defender, leaving everyone even more confused.
The Premier League have now addressed the matter themselves, confirming that VAR checked the incident for violent conduct from O’Brien and deemed it not to have been the case.
“The referee’s call of a yellow card to O’Brien for the action on White was checked and confirmed by VAR – with this deemed not to be violent conduct”, the Premier League announced via their Match Centre X account (5 April).
#EVEARS – 16’
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) April 5, 2025
The referee’s call of a yellow card to O’Brien for the action on White was checked and confirmed by VAR – with this deemed not to be violent conduct.
O’Brien yellow card for Everton still confusing
However, that does not explain why England showed a yellow card to O’Brien minutes after the incident had occurred.
According to the rules, VAR cannot intervene in yellow card incidents, and it would not have been able to recommend England to book O’Brien after finding no evidence for violent conduct.
The only possibility is that O’Brien had his name taken for dissent. He may have asked questions of the referee during the pause in play that led to him being shown the yellow card.