The officiating in the English Premier League last weekend received further bashing on Sunday after a shambolic Saturday that led to Premier League officials requesting a review from the referees governing body, PGMOL.
There were some bad decisions over the weekend during game week six which led to numerous calls for improvements to the application of VAR in the English game.
Mikel Arteta asks for consistency with VAR decisions after ‘soft foul’
Gabriel Martinelliās goal was chalked off after Martin Odegaard was adjudged to have fouled Christian Eriksen in the build-up during Manchester United’s home game against Arsenal.
Man Utd made the most of this reprieve as Antony grabbed a debut goal to make it 1-0 to the hosts before the break. Manchester United went ahead to win the goal with 2 break away goals by Marcus Rashford after Arsenal deservedly equalised in a match dominated by Arsenal.
However, had Martinelli goal been allowed the result could have been different. Goals influence games and Arteta knows this and was unhappy with the goal that was chalked off.
The match referee, Paul Tierney and VAR official, Lee Mason were both from the greater Manchester area, something that the Arsenal fans were rightly aggrieved about before the game at Old Trafford.
There were also two penalty shouts, one on Saka and the other one on Nketiah that were completely ignored by VAR and not even discussed by the Sky commentators. With this level of bias, one can see why Old Trafford is a difficult hunting ground for the Gunners.
Maxwel Cornetās Disallowed Goal cost West Ham 1 Point
On Saturday, West Ham United was denied a point at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea when referee Andrew Madley disallowed Maxwel Cornet 90th minute equaliser.
No wonder West Ham manager, David Moyes approached Madley at the final whistle along with his players and he also visited the refereeās locker room after the match to show his disapproval of the referee’s decision to disallow Cornet’s goal.
Newcastle Goal Disallowed in Stalemate with Crystal Palace
Also on Saturday, Newcastle boss Eddie Howe said he was “very surprised” by the video assistant referee’s decision to rule out a goal in a stalemate with Crystal Palace.
The hosts were initially awarded a goal by referee Michael Salisbury when Tyrick Mitchell knocked the ball into his own net.
But after a VAR review, it was ruled that Joe Willock had fouled Vicente Guaita moments leading to the goal. However, replays showed that Mitchell appeared to have pushed the Newcastle man into the Palace goalkeeper.
There was also a missed over the top tackle by Virgil Van Dijk in the Merseyside derby that Frank Lampard thought should have been a red and most neutral football fans agree with him on this. With most believing that Liverpool tend to get more decisions in their favour.
There were other questionable calls that has so far revealed the ineptitude of the application of VAR in the English game that is not the case in other top leagues in Europe.
Something needs to be done to fix these VAR controversies if the Premier League wants to continue to be seen as the best league in the world.
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