VAR assertion issued after Arsenal objective disallowed vs Chelsea as Gary Neville apologises
Arsenal saw an equaliser against Chelsea disallowed for offside after a VAR review chalked off Riccardo Calafiori’s goal in a chaotic opening few minutes
Arsenal saw an equalising goal disallowed
Arsenal saw an equaliser against Chelsea chalked off for offside after a VAR review, forcing Gary Neville to apologise.
The Gunners fell behind in a clash against their west London rivals that has been billed as an early test to both sides’ title credentials as Morgan Rogers opened the scoring inside two minutes with his first touch of the game.
Despite the early setback, Arsenal rallied well and thought they had drawn level just over 10 minutes later when Riccardo Calafiori bundled in one of the ugliest goals you’ll see this season.
Arsenal had a goal ruled out against Chelsea on Sunday(Image: Getty Images)
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A free-kick dropped into the near post was missed by Joao Pedro, who made a complete mess of his clearance. A scramble soon unfolded at the back post as Emi Martinez denied Gabriel’s shot before the ball fell to Ezri Konsa.
The summer signing stabbed the ball against the post before the rebound fell to Calafiori to bundle over the line. The goal initially stood, but VAR soon ruled the effort out, to the shock of Gary Neville on commentary.
Neville was left baffled by the VAR decision, insisting that none of the Arsenal players crowding Martinez had interfered with the Argentine; however, he failed to spot that Konsa was offside when he turned the ball goalwards.
Referee Chris Kavanagh didn’t need an on-field review due to the decision being black and white, neither did he make an announcement to the stadium.
But the Premier League Match Centre page on X delivered the verdict, saying: “VAR checked the referee’s call of goal – and determined that Konsa was in an offside position in the build-up and recommended that the goal was disallowed.”
But in the wake of the decision, Neville soon realised that Konsa was offside and apologised to VAR and the newly renamed Pro Ref.
Arsenal did eventually get their equaliser in the end-to-end clash as Kai Havertz haunted his former club again, striking the ball low and hard into the near post, which Martinez was weak in attempting to keep out.
