Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has escaped punishment over his post-match outburst in last month's 1-0 Premier League defeat to Newcastle United.
The Gunners lost their unbeaten top-flight streak at St James' Park, where Anthony Gordon scored the only goal of the contest, but that was one of a couple of incidents shrouded in controversy.
During the build-up to Newcastle's goal, Arsenal players believed the ball had gone out of play, but Joe Willock had just about kept the attack alive before sending a cross into the six-yard box, which David Raya missed.
Joelinton then towered above compatriot Gabriel Magalhaes to head the ball down for Gordon, who was deemed to have been onside and fired home from a yard out to inflict Arsenal's first top-flight loss of the season upon them.
The VAR room undertook three separate VAR checks to determine whether the ball had stayed in play, whether Gabriel was fouled and whether Gordon was indeed onside, and the officials in Stockley Park ultimately saw no reason to disallow the Englishman's effort.
Arsenal were also incensed when an apparent elbow from Bruno Guimaraes onto the head of Jorginho went unpunished, and a seething Arteta did not bite his tongue while speaking to the media after the game.
The Spaniard labelled the standard of officiating "embarrassing" and "a disgrace" and claimed that he "felt sick" by the decisions that went against his side, before being backed up by Arsenal themselves in a strongly-worded statement.
Arteta unsurprisingly landed himself in hot water with the FA, who charged him with a breach of FA Rule E3.1, accusing the 41-year-old of using insulting language which brought the game into disrepute.
The case was passed on to an independent commission ahead of a potential fine or touchline ban for Arteta, but it has been concluded that the Spaniard's comments did not constitute a breach of FA Rule E3.1.
As a result, Arteta has escaped punishment for his St James' Park rant, as the commission determined that the Arsenal manager was not attacking or questioning the integrity of match officials, and the words he used did not cross the line.
The panel have also concluded that Arteta's comments were targeted at the general use of VAR in the Premier League, which has been lambasted by a plethora of top-flight head coaches since its implementation.
As part of their written reasons for clearing Arteta, the commission stated that Arteta's view on VAR represented a "personal opinion" on a matter which the Premier League had already accepted was "deficient" and required major improvement.
The commission's summing-up stated that Arteta's words were not detrimental to the best interests of the game and did not bring the game into disrepute, allowing the former Gunners midfielder to return to the touchline for Sunday's clash with Brighton & Hove Albion.
Arteta watched last weekend's 1-0 loss to Aston Villa from the director's box after picking up his third yellow card of the season in the Gunners' pulsating 4-3 win over Luton Town, where he was penalised for excessively celebrating Declan Rice's 97th-minute header.
Arsenal sit second in the table heading into gameweek 17 and are only one point adrift of Liverpool, who take on Manchester United in the weekend's blockbuster clash. body check tags ::
