Arbitration management body admits fault to Arsenal
PGMOL Director Howard Webb has convened all member referees for an emergency meeting this week in Stockley Park, London. Last week, VAR made at least two mistakes that affected the outcome of the Premier League match, between Arsenal - Brentford and Crystal Palace - Brighton.
Webb, a 51-year-old former referee, has written to the damaged clubs to apologize. "PGMOL can confirm Webb has contacted both Arsenal and Brighton to acknowledge and explain serious errors in VAR procedures in their respective Premier League matches on Saturday," PGMOL's statement read. "Both incidents, which were caused by human error and related to the analysis of offside situations, are being scrutinized by the PGMOL."
VAR referee Lee Mason forgot, or didn't, mark the offside line during Ivan Toney's controversial goal in the 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium. Mason only considers if Ethan Pinnock - in an offside position - intervenes in the situation, then skips checking whether Christian Norgaard is offside. Chris Foy - the representative of PGMOL - admitted Norgaard was offside when he crossed Toney to set the score for Brentford, and that goal would have been disallowed if Mason had drawn the offside line.
At the Crystal Palace match against Brighton, VAR referee John Brooks again marked the offside line with the wrong player. In the situation where Pervis Estupinan scored, VAR drew a line with James Tomkins, but Marc Guehi was Palace's last defensive player. If Brooks draws a line with Guehi, Estupinan is highly likely to be offside. This match, Brighton was also held 1-1 by Crystal Palace.
Arsenal have not yet announced, but Brighton confirmed it has accepted PGMOL's apology. "PGMOL has confirmed the fatal error of denying Estupinan's goal against Crystal Palace. The VAR's offside marking against Estupinan was incorrect, and the goal should have been disallowed. Extremely disappointed with the result. Regarding this error, the club accepts PGMOL's apology and will not be making any further comments," Brighton's statement read.
In addition to these two mistakes recognized and apologized by PGMOL, VAR also made another controversial decision in Chelsea's 1-1 draw with West Ham on 11/2. In the 89th minute, when the score was 1-1, Tomas Soucek leaned down and extended his left hand to block Conor Gallagher's cross-angle shot from outside the box. The Chelsea players reacted violently, but the referee Craig Pawson and the VAR team did not penalize the West Ham player.
On Instagram on February 12, former striker Ian Wright worried about the consequences of these mistakes for Arsenal, Chelsea, Brighton and their respective ambitions this season. "What will happen from PGMOL. Will someone receive a penalty, or will the club receive an apology? Is this the best tournament in the world?", the former England striker added.
According to Sunsport, Mason is currently not assigned a task, and Brooks is scheduled to be the VAR referee of the Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton today, and Arsenal meet Man City in the 12th round of the Premier League match on February 15. .
