London – Does a referee’s mistake cost him FC Arsenal The Championship? The Premier League leaders had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Brentford FC on Saturday. The equalizer shouldn’t have counted.
Ivan Toney (26, 3rd from left) scores a goal for Brentford, which was preceded by an offside position. © Frank Augstein/AP/dpa
After winter signing Leandro Trossard (28) put the Gunners ahead in front of their home crowd at the Emirates in the 66th minute, the West London city rivals received a free-kick eight pointer turns later.
The ball sailed into the penalty area and eventually ended up with Christian Nörgaard (28), who headed the ball in the middle, where the free-standing Ivan Toney (26) made the tie with his own head.
As a result, however, video assistant Lee Mason (51) turned on to check the hit. It was checked whether central defender Ethan Pinnock (29) was offside at the moment Mathias Jensen (27) crossed in and then actively intervened in the game.
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The 51-year-old referee ruled that the latter was not the case, whereupon main referee Peter Bankes (41) pointed to the point. The goal counted, it ended up being a draw.
But what Mason missed: Not only Pinnock moved in the penalty zone, later assist provider Nörgaard was behind the last Arsenal defender.
The VAR made two mistakes this Premier League weekend. © Tom Weller/dpa
The English referee expert Chris Foy (60) was then sure that a human error led to the score, as he assured the Daily Mail.
“They didn’t check that properly. They just forgot to draw the calibrated lines. If they had done that, the goal wouldn’t have counted,” said the 60-year-old.
Gunners coach Mikel Arteta (40) was understandably not at all enthusiastic about the decision after the final whistle: “I just looked at it and it’s offside, right? Have you already made a statement? It’s just frustrating. We’ll probably find out then next week what went wrong,” said the ex-professional.
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With a win, leaders Arsenal could have extended their lead over second-placed Manchester City to eight points.
Now there is even a chance that Pep Guardiola’s (52) team will overtake on goal difference with a win against Aston Villa on Sunday (5.30 p.m.) and another triumph in the catch-up game and direct duel against the north Londoners on Wednesday (8.30 p.m.). .
It wasn’t the only VAR faux pas this weekend on the island, by the way. In the 1-1 draw between Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion, Pervis Estupinan (25) was denied a booth because the video assistant had placed the calibrated line on the wrong player.