The actual justifications for why Brentford’s equalizer against Arsenal was permitted were made public.
Only because VAR officer Lee Mason neglected to draw the lines that would have indicated Christian Norgaard was offside in the build-up was the contentious goal left to stand.
After the game, Mikel Arteta criticized the referees, questioning why they did not rule out the goal even though it appeared that a Brighton player was obviously offside before Ivan Toney’s goal.
The match referees made two mistakes when analyzing the incident, canceling away Leandro Trossard’s initial goal and preventing Arsenal from taking an eight-point lead at the top of the standings.
After spending three minutes reviewing the events leading up to the goal, the video assistant officials under Mason concluded that Ethan Pinnock’s initial obstruction of Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes’ path to the ball did not constitute play interference. Arteta disputed this conclusion after the game.
Mason then added to the error by approving Toney’s header and failing to verify that Norgaard had not advanced past Ben White, who was Arsenal’s final defender before he pushed the ball into the path of Brentford’s leading scorer.
In the lead-up to [Ivan Toney’s goal], “VAR Lee Mason was checking to see if there was an offside and whether Ethan Pinnock had blocked off Gabriel.” Chris Foy, a PGMOL spokesperson and expert referee for the Mail on Sunday, stated.
Similar circumstances occurred in the opening match between Chelsea and West Ham United, where the Blues were denied a fantastic chance to earn three well-earned points.
Tomas Soucek handled Chelsea’s late shot by Corner’s Gallagher in the area as he attempted to stop the ball, resembling a goalie in every way.
Chelsea players surrounded the official and begged for a penalty kick, but they were unsuccessful.
The incident was briefly assessed and disregarded by VAR, but analysts including Rio Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Glenn Hoddle, and Joe Cole believed the Blues should have been given a penalty kick.
