Aston Villa have had one of the controversial VAR calls against West Ham United analysed by former Premier League referee Howard Webb after PGMOL released the VAR footage.
Aston Villa’s 1-1 draw with West Ham United sparked a host of debate regarding decisions made by VAR during the contest.
The Hammers had two goals ruled out due to handball offences, while Villa were denied a penalty claim for another incident that saw the ball handled in the box.
Unai Emery will be the more relieved manager after the result, as there were many hearts in Villa mouths in the final seconds as Tomas Soucek’s match-winner was eventually ruled out by VAR.
It was a point gained in the end for the Villans however, there has been a lot said about the refusal of the visitor’s penalty claim when the score was at 0-0 and how the decision could have altered the outcome.
Howard Webb shares verdict on Aston Villa penalty denial v West Ham
Howard Webb analysed a host of controversial decisions that Matchweek 26-29 provided in the Premier League.
Touching on Villa’s dismissed penalty claim against West Ham due to Emerson’s handball in the box, Webb supported the decision of the officials to wave away penalty shouts.
“We’re still in this subjective part of the game of handball. The area that’s always thrown up the most opinion, I guess. Yes, we see Emerson pointing to a team-mate, a pretty normal kind of natural thing to do, I think at that point. He’s not positioning himself to block a shot or a cross or a pass.”
“His arm is already there and the ball actually finds his arm. It’s a bit away from the body, hence the reason why some people think they should be penalised. I think it would have been really harsh.”
“He has no time to retract the arm. He tries his best but can’t do it. But it’s the ball that finds the arm. He doesn’t move the arm towards the ball and I think in my opinion that’s a pretty normal sequence. And I don’t think it’s one that we would expect to be penalised.”
PGMOL also shared the decision-making behind the call to refuse to award a penalty, as portrayed above, supporting that there was reason for Villa players to appeal.
The officials were the centre stage of Aston Villa 1-1 West Ham
This season, there has been a list of inconsistencies when it comes to match-defining calls made in the Premier League, frustrating clubs, players and fans.
While Webb has cleared up the decision not to award Villa a penalty in the first half, it could be said that in another game in a different instance, the offence could be deemed viable to award a penalty for.
The key problem that was seen in the fixture regarding VAR was the time taken to decide the major calls, with the game being paused for five minutes at the end to determine the ruling out of Soucek’s winner.
Villa benefited from that call however, the game could have been so much different had Emery’s side taken the lead in teh first half through the penalty that they were denied.
In the Premier League, the quality, the calibre of players and the history of football in England is like no other, making games like Sunday’s all the more frustrating as the only thing letting the top flight down is the officials.
