Video: Tottenham star gets away with blatant handball against Leeds despite VAR check

Tottenham midfielder Mateus Fernandes has appeared to get away with a clear handball, despite VAR checking the incident in today’s game against Leeds United.

Fernandes has performed well for Spurs since joining from West Ham United in the summer, but this looked like a real moment of madness from him in today’s game at Elland Road.

Watch below and make your own mind up, but doesn’t it seem quite blatant that Fernandes is jumping towards the ball with his arm outstretched, and then successfully blocking it? Perhaps the angle isn’t great and it hit his shoulder, but it looks like it’s below the shoulder, and therefore handball and a penalty to Leeds…

? The refereeing standards in the Premier League are an absolute JOKE what is this???? ? pic.twitter.com/YkfUp3Pezv

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— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) November 7, 2026

Pictures from TNT Sports

Fernandes is a fine player and there are undoubtedly a lot of positives to say about him, but on this occasion he seemed like he very deliberately tried cheating and got away with it, which no one wants to see.

Tottenham and Leeds delicately poised so far

It’s 0-0 at the time of writing, and these sides generally look quite evenly matched, so this could end up being a hugely decisive moment in today’s game.

Leeds will undoubtedly be furious if Tottenham end up going on to win this game, as this could have given Daniel Farke’s side an important early advantage.

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Tottenham have been in better form recently, so they’ll hope they can ride their luck and end up taking three points today.

Leeds are no pushovers at home, though, so this is surely far from over just yet.