The match officials for Arsenal’s 2-0 loss to West Ham told Mikel Arteta that VAR was unable to identify whether the ball had gone out of play for the Hammers’ disputed first goal.
On Thursday evening, Tomas Soucek scored for David Moyes’ side after 13 minutes, sliding home from Jarrod Bowen’s low cross.
Former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos put the game out of reach with a header off the crossbar early in the second half.
Arsenal couldn’t get back into the game despite having 77 touches in the opposition area, the most of any Premier League club without scoring in 15 years.
However, the debate surrounding West Ham’s opening goal infuriated Gunners fans, with VAR ruling that the ball had not gone out of play prior to Bowen’s cross.
VAR lacked the necessary camera viewpoint to establish if the ball had crossed the line and thus had no conclusive proof that it had. As a result, the decision was reached to keep the goal.
Regardless, there is no guarantee that any other aspect would have compelled the choice to change.
Arteta explained what the officials informed him after the game, and he was critical that the technology wasn’t clear enough to give a decisive verdict on whether the goal should have stood or not.
“I haven’t seen it,” he replied (via Sky Sports). They [the officials] just stated that the image was inconclusive.
“It’s just a shame that the technology we have isn’t so clear that we can rule it out.” It’s finished, gone, and there’s nothing we can do about it now.”
Meanwhile, former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg told Amazon Prime: “The match officials have no other option.”
“On the goal line, the assistant referee cannot see clearly if the ball has gone out of play.”
“The decision made on the pitch is a goal.” We cannot be positive that the ball has gone out based on all of the data.”
Credit for the featured image: Getty / Premier League
