Former Premier League referee Graham Barber has admitted that the referee and the VAR made "probably the worst mistake anybody could make" during Arsenal's 1-0 win over Hull City at the weekend.

The Gunners continued their fine form and opened up a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League table with a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Tigers at the Emirates Stadium.

The win came as a result of Martin Odegaard's 72nd minute strike, but things could have been made a lot easier had they been awarded a first half penalty.

Kai Havertz went down in the box after having his shirt pulled by Hull star Nobel Mendy, with referee FaraiHallam waving away appeals for a spot-kick. However, the referee was asked to review the incident on the pitchside monitor by the VAR, although it was determined that Havertz was in an offside position before he had his shirt pulled.

Hallam explained his decision to the crowd, saying it was a foul, but that the offside rule negated the need for a penalty. That is not true when it comes to the laws of the game, however, with a clear mistake made by the on-pitch referee and the VAR in not awarding a spot-kick.

Former Premier League referee could not believe what he was seeing

Speaking exclusively to GIVEMESPORT, Barber explained the laws of the game and said it was the "worst mistake" a referee could make.

He said: "Thankfully, it didn't affect the result of the match and there would have been some implications, I think if it had affected the result of the match, because I think the best thing for me here, is to read the laws of the game, or the excerpt from Law 11, which is the offside.

And the law reads, 'if a player in an offside position is moving towards the ball with the intention of playing the ball, and is fouled before playing or attempting to play the ball, or challenging an opponent for the ball, the foul is penalised as it has occurred before the offside offence'.

"So, let's look at that incident. The incident is really quite clear, it's a clear foul, it's a clear pulling of the shirt, he was clearly attempting to go and play the ball, and the sad thing is, they got this wrong.

"Both VAR and the referee got this wrong, and the point about this is they got this wrong in law.

"Week in, week out we have discussions about opinions and you may think one thing, I may think another thing, fans may think another thing, the opposing fans may think something else, because the game's all about opinions.

"What we do want to avoid though is decisions being made that are incorrect in law. And in this particular case, Arsenal should clearly have had a penalty kick. Kai Havertz was fouled in an attempt to play the ball, and that should have superseded the offside decision, so it should have been a penalty kick.

"The referees are the custodians of the laws of the game and as custodians of the law, they need to implement the laws and if a law is not implemented, that's probably the worst mistake anybody could make.

"I can make a decision based on opinion, you can make a decision based on opinion, but at the end of the day, there's no opinion when it comes to law."