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Dean Henderson celebrating with the FA Cup(Image: Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)

Alan Shearer believes Dean Henderson was fortunate not to be sent off for his handball outside the penalty area in Saturday’s FA Cup final.

The Crystal Palace hero made a string of saves.

including to deny Omar Marmoush from the penalty spot, as his club won their first ever major trophy at Wembley.

But he clearly used his hand outside the box to keep the ball out of Erling Haaland ’s reach during the first half, an action that somehow went completely unpunished by referee Stuart Attwell and VAR Jarred Gillett.

And Shearer said: “To win the FA Cup you always need a bit of luck too, and perhaps they got that with the decision not to send off goalkeeper Dean Henderson for his handball outside his box when Erling Haaland ran through in the first half.

"They got away with one there, because if I am a City player then I want that to be a red card and it probably should have been, but there was no luck about the saves Henderson made, including Omar Marmoush's penalty, and he was another of their heroes.

Despite that assessment Shearer says Palace were entirely deserving of their victory.

They deserved their win, and they certainly gave everything to get it.

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“Whether it was blocking shots, crosses or passes, they all put their bodies on the line.

There were so many times where they had two, three or even four men throwing themselves in the way in desperation, doing whatever they could to make a difference, and their determination to stop City was brilliant to watch.

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“Palace seemed to win every tackle, and it was getting the better of all those separate battles that got the team over the line in the end.

Pep Guardiola was seen confronting Dean Henderson at Wembley.(Image: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

“I don't think you can put Palace's victory down to any one thing, but they had that hard work allied with a gameplan that worked - they were happy to let City have the ball, defend deep and then try to hit them on the break.”

Henderson insisted afterwards that he wasn't aware of a VAR check but he was confronted by City boss Pep Guardiola at full-time.

The England international said: "I didn't know [the VAR check] was for me in all honesty.

The ball had come into the box so I wasn't sure what they were doing it for.