Dilemma

Cast your mind back to a game between Sunderland and Fulham in February.

Harry Wilson swings a free-kick into the penalty area. The ball flies through to Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs, who punches it to safety.

But on the ground is Calvin Bassey, who immediately gets up and appeals to referee Craig Pawson, arms outstretched. The Fulham player wants a spot-kick for a shirt pull by Brian Brobbey.

Nothing is picked up on-field but the VAR, Tony Harrington, identifies a tug on the shirt and sends the referee to the monitor to give a penalty.

There are striking similarities to Timber on Isak.

One resulted in a VAR penalty, but the other did not.

One player went to ground, but the other did not.

Rather than to dive, perhaps there is a better description of what Isak had to do: give the referee and the VAR a decision to make.

“Arsenal got lucky,” Danny Murphy said on Match of the Day. “If Isak maybe makes a bit more of it. I hate to see players exaggerate, but he’s going to score. It’s a big moment in the game.”

Shirt pulling is not in itself an automatic foul. The determination is always about how it affects the opponent.

As the law says: “A holding offence occurs only when a player’s contact with an opponent’s body or equipment impedes the opponent’s movement.”

Indeed, the ‘coat hanger effect’, when a player’s shirt is pulled well away from the body, is more likely to be penalised.

Still, impact is crucial. And if Isak gives the impression there has been no impact, that is going to be a factor.

Former Premier League assistant referee Darren Cann told BBC Sport: “It has to be sustained holding – some will say it was sustained, some will say it wasn’t. But it’s interesting that Isak didn’t even appeal.”

There is some annoyance in refereeing circles that the goalposts keep being moved when analysing decisions.

One moment video officials are being told that the VAR should not use slow-motion replays. And then, as was the case with Isak, slow-motion replays are used as the case for the prosecution.

There seems to be far less in the incident at full speed, that the hold of the shirt is more fleeting with minimal impact.

With the high bar for intervention this season, this may go down as an on-field error but not to the threshold for a VAR intervention.