VAR caused controversy for canceling Arsenal's goal
In the 19th minute, Martinelli scored a shot into Everton's net after a pass from Fabio Viera. Referee Simon Hooper initially recognized the Gunners' opening goal, but VAR intervened and determined that Eddie Nketiah had previously been offside when running from the bottom to catch the ball, creating an opportunity for Viera to create an assist.
However, the television camera angle and the offside line did not convince viewers.
Former defender Gary Neville commented on Sky Sports: "Don't they have a better camera angle? This camera angle looks a bit strange. There are a lot of cameras on the field. I don't understand why they don't provide a better camera angle." . To me, VAR's decision seems like guesswork. Sometimes, you have a hunch that the referee made the wrong decision and this is one of those situations."
In the Sun newspaper, journalist Jon Boon also shared Neville's opinion. He commented: "Through the television camera angle, it can be seen that the VAR lines are not parallel to each other. To make an accurate judgment, they need to be parallel but in reality they are not."
Even former referee Mark Halsey said: "At the time the goal was scored, I thought there might be an offside error. But the video tape did not show that accurately because the camera was not at an angle parallel to the player receives the ball".
Besides the controversy over the VAR line, the fact that Nketiah was determined to be offside also caused controversy. The Arsenal striker received the ball while moving from behind the Everton defenders. But the ball came to him by accident because a pass from midfielder Gabriel was influenced and redirected by Everton striker Beto.
From the perspective of the law, if Beto touches the ball on purpose, Nketiah will not be considered offside. But in this case, it is difficult to determine whether the Everton striker intended it or not, although the way he moved showed that he was just trying to press and did not have time to react to Gabriel's pass.
In the Telegraph, former referee Keith Hackett - who is in the top 100 of the International Organization for Football History and Statistics - called this situation a "gray area" in the rules of the game. He also feels dissatisfied that a top tournament like the Premier League has not applied the semi-automatic offside detection system that FIFA has used quite successfully in the 2022 World Cup.
Despite being disadvantaged by VAR's ruling, Arsenal still won three points at Everton Stadium. The only goal was scored by the player who replaced Martinelli - Leandro Trossard, helping the "Gunners" end a six-year winless streak at Goodison Park and climb back to the top 4 with 13 points through five rounds.
