The Premier League have issued a statement to explain why Chelsea‘s equaliser against West Ham was allowed to stand after Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville felt the Blues were very fortunate Pedro Neto‘s finish was not ruled out.
Neto made it 1-1 at Stamford Bridge with a 64th-minute rebound to cancel out West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen’s opener which came shortly before half-time.
But there was controversy surrounding the build-up to substitute Neto’s finish. Levi Colwill appeared to foul Hammers goalscorer Bowen off the ball at the start of the hosts’ attacking move.
VAR checked whether Marc Cucurella was in an offside position before Neto fired beyond Alphonse Areola but did not go back to Colwill’s foul.
It was judged that Marc Guiu did not touch the ball from the initial cross into the box, meaning Cucurella wasn’t offside, and the goal stood.
The Premier League said via their Match Centre account on X: “The referee’s call of goal was checked and confirmed by the VAR as there was no factual evidence that Guiu made contact with the ball in the build-up, therefore there was no offside offence.”
But Neville argued on commentary that referee Stuart Attwell missed a clear foul on Bowen and said he would be fuming if he was the Hammers: “I actually thought there was a foul on Bowen a lot earlier in the move.
“I think it was a foul, look at that, Colwill stepping across Bowen. I think it’s considered to be too far back but I think that is an obvious foul. I thought so at the time. The Bowen foul has to be spotted.
“I would be furious if I was West Ham. I think the referee and assistant referee are both looking at the game from that side, they should spot that. Colwill just goes and takes him out so he can’t get towards [goalkeeper Filip] Jorgensen.”
Sky Sports later confirmed that VAR deemed the apparent foul on Bowen to be outside the attacking phase of play given it came well before Neto’s eventual shot.
Chelsea made it 2-1 just 10 minutes later after Cole Palmer‘s cross deflected beyond Areola courtesy of Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s deflection. The Premier League put it down as an own goal.
The home team went on claim the full three points against their former manager Graham Potter and his West Ham team. Victory leaves the Blues fourth in the table on 43 points, two clear of fifth-placed Manchester City.
West Ham sit 15th on 27 points, leaving them 10 clear of the relegation zone but seven away from the top 10.
Maresca’s Chelsea face Brighton in their next match in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday at the Amex Stadium.
West Ham do not play against until February 15 against Brentford in the league having been dumped out of the cup by Aston Villa.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk