The Premier League’s ongoing battle with players grappling at set pieces took centre stage again after West Ham’s 95th minute equaliser against Arsenal was ruled out following a lengthy VAR review.
The referee association, Professional Game Match Officials (PGMOL), has since doubled down on its stance, with chief refereeing officer Howard Webb insisting officials will “be vigilant” after what was described as a “clear and obvious” foul on Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya.
Callum Wilson thought he had rescued a point for West Ham, only for referee Chris Kavanagh to overturn the goal after being sent to the pitchside monitor.
The process took four minutes and 17 seconds, a delay that left West Ham frustrated and preparing to contact the PGMOL for clarification.
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville even labelled the controversy one of the biggest calls in VAR history in the Premier League.
West Ham: why the goal was disallowed
VAR looked through multiple potential fouls. And, the audio released on Match Officials Mic’d Up revealed how many incidents VAR Darren England and assistant VAR Akil Howson had to assess.
They examined: Pablo’s contact on Raya, Leandro Trossard’s actions, and Declan Rices’s grappling with Konstantinos Mavropanos
The decisive moment came early. When Kavanagh reached the monitor, he immediately identified the key offence, saying:
I can see the clear holding on him (Raya) across.
On Trossard’s involvement he added:
I don’t think there’s much in that at all, I’m happy with that. That’s nothing.
VAR England agreed that the foul on Raya occurred first and was most significant:
The foul happens on the goalkeeper before.
Webb’s assessment
Webb himself said:
Is it a foul on the goalkeeper? Categorically, yes.
He continued:
We’ve said all season, including in pre-season briefings with the players, that if a goalkeeper is impeded by an opponent grabbing or holding their arms and therefore they can’t do their job, they’ll be penalised.
We’re not just talking about contact with goalkeepers, we’re talking about a specific type of contact when the goalkeeper’s arms or hands are being interfered with, stopping them from doing their job.
Webb also said that the footage clearly showed Pablo’s arm across Raya’s neck and arm:
It stops him from doing something pretty routine of catching the ball as he can’t put his arms up and we’ve said all season we’ll penalise that.
Webb reiterated that it has been a season long crackdown and defended the time it took to get to the decision:
We have to get it right. In this really important situation, we did.
The decision to disallow the goal scored by West Ham, denying them a vital point in their current relegation battle against Tottenham. Yet it also handed Arsenal a vital victory in the title race against Manchester City.
While Webb insists the officials reached the correct conclusion, the length of the review and the number of incidents involved mean the debate will continue.
What is clear is that the PGMOL intends to stay firm. Goalkeeper interference of this kind will continue to be punished and the officials, Webb says will “be vigilant”. However, these comments are unlikely to quash growing ire over the role of VAR in modern football, to say nothing of West Ham’s intent to complain over the incident.
Featured image via the Canary
By Faz Ali
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