Arsenal victims AGAIN of VAR blunder – Everton couldn’t have complained if Martinelli’s goal stood, says ex-ref Halsey
I DO not think there would have been any complaints had Gabriel Martinelli’s disallowed first-half goal stood.
Defender Gabriel’s pass deflected off Beto before it reached Eddie Nketiah.
The Everton striker did not deliberately touch the ball and, with Nketiah in an offside position in the build-up, VAR ruled the goal should be chalked off.
At the time, I actually thought Martinelli might have been the one penalised and the officials possibly hid behind the law when making the decision.
The law states that a player in an offside position at the moment the ball is played or touched is only penalised on becoming involved in active play by interfering with play by playing or touching a ball passed or touched by a team-mate.
It eventually became clear that it was Nketiah but the VAR lines were not parallel and to get a sound judgement they needed to be parallel which they were not.
It’s not the first time Arsenal have felt wronged by VAR.
Last season, the lines to check whether a Brentford goal was offside were not drawn up, which cost the Gunners two points.
Halsey told SunSport: “Whether it is offside, a foul in the passage of play leading up to the goal or an accidental handball by the goalscorer — the VAR has to look at all aspects.
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“It looked at the time that it might have been offside but, from the footage, it was not clear because the cameras did not appear as if they were parallel to the play.”
The decision proved to be academic on Sunday, as Arsenal managed to secure an away win at Everton.
Leandro Trossard’s second half strike was enough to secure all three points for the Gunners.