|
Listen to article
|
The Premier League have sent out a statement, explaining why Arsenal were not awarded a penalty in the first half of their 2-0 win over Everton on Saturday.
Kai Havertz appeared to be clipped by Michael Keane after he was played in by Eberechi Eze.
But referee Andy Madley waved play on and VAR supported the on-field decision.
Read Also: Barcelona Target Osimhen As Lewandowski’s Successor
In a statement explaining the decision, the Premier League Match Centre said: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Arsenal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact from Keane on Havertz deemed to be minimal.”
The Gunners eventually found late goals from Viktor Gyokeres and Max Dowman to edge a tight encounter.
The win took them 10 points clear of Manchester City, who play at West Ham.
Louisiana State University sprinter Ella Onojuvwevwo became the fastest woman in the world indoors this season and set a new African indoor 400 metres record on the opening day of the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Friday, running a time of 50.28 seconds in her preliminary heat to produce one of the most significant single-race performances by a Nigerian athlete in the recent history of collegiate track.
The 20-year-old from Ughelli in Delta State dominated her heat from the moment it began, moving clear of the field within the first 200 metres and crossing the finish line in a performance that simultaneously rewrote three record books.
The time of 50.28 is the fifth-fastest 400 metres ever run indoors in NCAA Division I competition and stands as the current world-leading mark for the indoor season, placing her at the top of the global indoor rankings with Saturday’s final still to run.
It also broke the previous African indoor 400 metres record and stands as a new personal best for Onojuvwevwo, who had entered the championships having run 50.96 seconds to win the Southeastern Conference Indoor title two weeks earlier, itself already a performance that had established her as the division’s leading 400-metre competitor.
Onojuvwevwo’s SEC victory in February had itself been a redemption performance, coming one year after she was disqualified from the 2025 SEC Indoor Championships for a false start, losing what would have been her first individual conference title. Her return to the same event with a dominant winning run had given her the confidence and momentum to arrive in Fayetteville as the division’s most formidable 400-metre contender. Friday’s heat performance extended that momentum well beyond the confines of collegiate competition.
“I push myself every day in practice, hitting every rep,” Onojuvwevwo said after her heat, in a comment consistent with remarks she made following her SEC victory. “This is just one rep and it’s easy, it’s not like the workouts I do every day in practice. This is just one lap and I have to go all out.”
In Nigerian track and field, Onojuvwevwo’s time now stands as the fastest 400 metres run by a Nigerian woman since Falilat Ogunkoya’s 50.04 in Osaka in 2000, a 26-year-old benchmark that had been the defining reference point for female Nigerian 400-metre running across an entire generation.
Read Also: WAFCON 2026: Super Falcons Decamped After Postponement
Ogunkoya, who won Olympic bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Games in the 400 metres and silver in the 4×400 relay, remains Nigeria’s most decorated female quarter-miler in international competition, and the proximity of Onojuvwevwo’s time to Ogunkoya’s best outdoor mark, achieved in a championship final rather than a heat, gives an indication of the speed trajectory the LSU senior is currently on. Across African indoor athletics more broadly, Onojuvwevwo became the second African woman ever to break the 51-second barrier indoors with her SEC run, and has now extended that historic distinction with the continental record.
The eight finalists who qualified alongside Onojuvwevwo on Friday illustrate the depth of this year’s championship field.
Madison Whyte of the University of Southern California qualified second in 50.68, followed by Sanaria Butler of the University of Arkansas in 50.70 — itself a personal best.
Rachel Joseph of Iowa State ran 51.20, Sydney Sutton of Florida 51.25, Kaylyn Brown of Arkansas 51.29, Shaquena Foote and Dejanea Oakley of Georgia each 51.43.
