Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta praised the courage of the referees, after refusing West Ham’s dramatic late equalizer.
Arsenal led West Ham 1-0 at the end of the second half. Dramatic injury time occurred. Callum Wilson seemed to have helped the home team West Ham get 1 point, after unleashing a shot that crossed the goal line in the 90+5 minute.
Initially, referee Chris Kavanagh recognized the goal. But then, he reviewed the VAR and decided to refuse because he thought that striker Pablo of the home team used his hand to block the ball, making goalkeeper David Raya confused in the first ball.
“It was a decision by the referee that I think was very brave, but very consistent with what they said throughout the season. It was a free kick, and the goal had to be disallowed. So congratulations because the referees made a big decision in extremely difficult circumstances.
Perhaps today I realized how difficult and important refereeing work is. Because you are talking about a moment that could decide history, the fate of two big clubs fighting their best to achieve their goals. And the pressure is enormous,” coach Mikel Arteta said after the match.
With this victory, Arsenal continues to be 5 points ahead of Man City in the Premier League title race, in the context that the season is only 2 rounds away. The Gunners are facing a very big opportunity to win the Premier League after 20 years. Arteta’s emphasis on the importance of the VAR decision to help Arsenal beat West Ham is not an exaggeration.
With West Ham, the 0-1 defeat to Arsenal made them still rank 18th in the standings – the position to be relegated at the end of the season.
In contrast to Mikel Arteta, coach Nuno Espirito Santo criticized the referee, saying they did not know what fouls were. He said: “Due to the circumstances and the way the match ended, we were all disappointed with what happened.
In recent seasons, similar incidents have happened frequently. Even the referee does not know what is a foul and what is not, which raises suspicion. Looking at it comprehensively, we played very well but Arsenal is a strong team and we lost the match”.
West Ham striker Jarrod Bowen said that his team was unlucky when the late equalizer was disallowed and said that goalkeeper Raya “had to anticipate collisions” in such situations.
He said: “The goalkeeper is protected more than the players outside the field and there are many fouls holding people in the penalty area. When the goalkeeper rushes out to catch the ball, he must anticipate collisions. This is the Premier League, there will definitely be collisions.
Last week in the match against Brentford, we had a similar case when Tomas Soucek was pulled down at the post behind and was not awarded a penalty.
