Referee Chris Kavanagh and the VAR team may have made a big mistake in the most recent Arsenal match as they seemed to miss a clear handball inside the box.
What’s the latest on Arsenal and VAR?
Things got off to a terrible start for the Gunners at home this weekend as they conceded after just nine seconds when Philip Billing opened the scoring for Bournemouth. In a further twist, the Premier League leaders then fell another goal behind as Marcos Senesi headed the Cherries 2-0 up.
Just after the hour mark, however, Thomas Partey pulled one back for the Gunners and with 20 minutes on the clock Ben White had then netted an equaliser.
Then, with essentially the last kick of the game, Reiss Nelson fired in an incredible winner to hand Arsenal all three points in the most dramatic of turnarounds.
However, things could have been quite different had Mikel Arteta and co been given a penalty for a handball – with this video suggesting a big mistake was made by the officials
What happened with the VAR handball decision at Arsenal?
As the image shows, Bournemouth defender Chris Mepham goes up to head the ball clear but under the press of Fabio Vieira, he gets himself mixed up and it strikes his arm inside his own box.
The officials did check it but reportedly deemed that it was accidental with Mepham’s arm not in an unnatural enough position to be a foul.
Incredibly, the Gunners had four handball appeals turned down by VAR in the game – showing just how much pressure they put on the opposition – and it must have felt as if it just wasn’t going to be their way.
That was at least until Nelson stepped up with a winner to keep his side five points clear at the top of the table.
