Martin Keown blasted the farcical nature in which Kai Havertz was denied a penalty against Hull City.Havertz had his shirt pulled by Hull defender Nobel Mendy as he looked to break clear late in the first half of Arsenal’s 1-0 win over the Tigers.Havertz pleaded his case to the official but to no availAFPWhy did Arsenal not receive a penalty?The incident was initially dismissed by referee Farai Hallam, but he was quickly instructed by VAR official Michael Oliver to review the incident on the pitchside monitor.However, a review quickly showed that Havertz was in an offside position when Mendy tugged on his shirt, meaning the pitchside review would ultimately be redundant.That’s exactly how it played out when Hallam announced his decision to the Emirates Stadium crowd.Hallam initially admitted Mendy’s foul was indeed worthy of a penalty, sparking cheers from Gunners fans.But those quickly subsided when he explained that because Havertz was in an offside position at the time, it was a moot point.Martin Keown reacts to the non-penaltyThe entire process left Gunners great Keown, who was on commentary duties for talkSPORT, furious.“He should never have been asked to go to the VAR monitor, should he,” Keown said.“They should have determined that already if he was offside. That’s ridiculous.”Keown added: “Wouldn’t you have decided all of that in the VAR room before you ask the referee to go and look at it? It’s ridiculous. I’d really love to hear the true story on that one.”Co-commentator Alex Crook added Liverpool fans would have felt Havertz’s non-penalty would be ‘karma’ given Alexander Isak did not receive a penalty when Jurrien Timber committed a similar offence last Sunday.Referee Farai Hallam was at the centre of controversy by not awarding a penaltyGettyWere Arsenal robbed of a penalty against Hull?But in a further twist to the decision, BBC football rules expert Dale Johnson explained that Arsenal should have been awarded a penalty.He said: “A player who is in an offside position only becomes active when they commit an offside offence.“Kai Havertz must be ‘attempting to play the ball, or challenging an opponent for the ball’ – otherwise the shirt pull by Nobel Mendy takes precedence. The foul comes before any offside offence.“Havertz did not commit an offside offence, and this should have been a spot-kick to Arsenal regardless of the offside.“We saw this a couple of seasons ago between Newcastle and Bournemouth. Fabian Schar was just offside but pulled back as he moved to run onto a free-kick delivery. A penalty was awarded after a VAR review.”Regardless of whether a penalty should or should not have been awarded, Havertz has developed an uncomfortable habit of being offside.By straying beyond Hull’s defensive line, Havertz has been flagged offside a league-leading 15 times this term, seven more than Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin who sits second on the leaderboard.