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Manchester City fans have been told why Farai Hallam decided not to award them a penalty in the first-half against Wolves, despite a handball from Yerson Mosquera in his own area. The Cityzens already led the game 1-0 thanks to Omar Marmoush's sixth-minute opener, when the Wolves centre-back seemingly handled the ball.

Marmoush was driving into the Wolves area when he flicked the ball backwards in an effort to beat his man, only for it to bounce off the arm of Mosquera. Appeals inside the Etihad Stadium were loud, as Hallam - who was making his Premier League debut - was advised to take a second-look at the incident from Darren England and Samuel Barrott on VAR duty.

After checking the footage thoroughly, Hallam opted to stick with his original decision of no penalty. And now, the Premier League Match Centre has given an explanation of the referee's decision on social media.

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Taking to X, the account wrote: "After VAR review, the referee retained the on-field decision of no penalty to Manchester City. Referee announcement: 'After review, the ball hits the arm of the Wolves player, which is in a natural position, so the on-field decision will remain.'"

Elsewhere, the panel on Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday dissected the incident. Clinton Morrison explained: "He's going to have a look at the moment. He does get his shot away and hits the post, Marmoush, he's been lively.

"I don't think he needs to have too many looks at this because we've all said after about two looks that it's a penalty, but he's still looking at the moment."

Meanwhile, after receiving the referee's decision, Morrison added: "So he's a new referee - it's his first game. Darren England's told him to go and have a look at the monitor, and he's said he's stuck with his decision. He's gave no penalty. Mike, what do you think?"

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Former referee, Mike Dean, then added: "If I'm being honest with you, the referee's position on-field is good, I think the decision was given on-field and he hasn't give it on-field. Fair play to him for going to the screen.

"He looked at it, I would say, 20 or 30 times and I think the longer he looks at it he's going to stick with it. I kind of get his arm was in a natural-ish position, but I think the distance as well was a bit harsh of him to give it."

It didn't take Manchester City long to double their lead, however, with Antoine Semenyo finding the back of the net in stoppage time to put his club 2-0 up headed into the break.

It comes as the 26-year-old's third goal for his new club since his £64million move from Bournemouth earlier this month, having scored against Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup and Exeter in the FA Cup.

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