Revealed: VAR SHOULD have overturned Bruno Fernandes's controversial sending off

VAR should have told referee Chris Kavanagh to overturn Bruno Fernandes's red card against Tottenham, a panel has found.

The midfielder was sent off just before half-time in Manchester United's humiliating 3-0 loss at Old Trafford after scraping his boot against James Maddison's leg while contesting the ball.

Both sets of players quickly surrounded the referee but, despite Fernandes's protestations, Kavanagh was told to stick with his original decision and the Portuguese had to trudge off down the tunnel.

This week, United successfully had the red rescinded, sparing the 30-year-old a potential three-match ban.

To place further unwanted attention on VAR, the Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel has now ruled that the video system should have intervened in the decision as it happened, the BBC reports.

It wrote: 'Fernandes is reaching, the contact is high but certainly not excessive force or endangering the safety. The evidence is also there for a VAR intervention.

'The panel also felt that the assistant was responsible for leading this decision.'

The group is made up of five members and includes three former players and managers. Also on the panel are one representative from the Premier League and one from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL).

United were a goal down, courtesy of Brennan Johnson's fourth strike in four matches, when Fernandes saw red and conceded two more in the second-half, with Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke adding to the tally.

The panel also weighed in on a number of other contentious decisions from a busy weekend of football, including the awarding of a Newcastle penalty after Man City's Ederson fouled Anthony Gordon.

The members unanimously supported the decision of referee Jarred Gillett to give the spot-kick in the early match on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the panel were also in agreement in backing Samuel Barrott's call to not give Arsenal's Riccardo Calafiori a second yellow card in the Gunners' 4-2 win over Leicester City.

The Italian had been booked in the 49th minute and the Foxes wanted him to see red for another challenge later in the half on Facundo Buonanotte.

The panel wrote: 'It's a careless challenge, not reckless, it doesn't stop a promising attack as [Thomas] Partey is right there covering.'

There was room for disagreement, however, regarding Peter Bankes' decision to award Chelsea a penalty in the Blues' impressive 4-2 win against Brighton on Saturday.

Two of the five members sided against the call which penalised Georginio Rutter for a foul on Jadon Sancho and said the Seagulls man was 'entitled to run that line', stating it 'looks worse due to the closing gap'.