Goalkeeper James Trafford had a first half to forget on his Manchester City home debut against Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium.
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Thomas Frank’s side took a two-goal lead into half-time after goals from winger Brennan Johnson and midfielder Joao Palhinha.
Trafford, 22, was culpable for Spurs’ second after he gave the ball away in his own box, with Pape Matar Sarr pinching possession from the pass out before Palhinha fired home.
But many felt the England U21 goalkeeper was lucky to still be on the pitch at that point.
James Trafford’s challenge on Mohammed Kudus
Moments after Spurs took a 1-0 lead, Trafford sprinted out of his box as winger Mohammed Kudus raced in on goal.
After Kudus controlled with his chest, Trafford appeared to handle the ball outside his 18-yard box and caught the Ghana international high on the chest with his knee.
Kudus laid injured on the pitch as City regained possession but a free-kick was not awarded to Spurs and Trafford went unpunished.
While the challenge on Kudus was debateable, it was the use of Trafford’s arm outside the box that had many people questioning whether the goalkeeper should have been sent off.
Why wasn’t Trafford punished?
Firstly, after the referee saw no offence on the field, the incident was checked and confirmed by the Video Assistant Referee.
All incidents are looked at in the VAR room, but only those deemed worthy of an intervention are reviewed by the on-field referee.
BBC Sport understands that the officials felt there was not a case for the VAR to intervene as Trafford’s hands were down by his side and because of the proximity of his body to the incident.
Secondly, a goalkeeper handling the ball outside the box is not an automatic red card.
There are a number of considerations that the referee (or the VAR) must take, such as whether the goalkeeper had denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity, the distance between the offence and the goal, the direction of play, and the location and number of defenders around the incident.