Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard was critical of the Video Assistant Referee system after his side’s 3-1 loss at Manchester United. The Premier League, as it stands, is set to review this weekend’s incidents.
Twelve minutes into their biggest match of the Premier League season so far, the Gunners thought they had taken the lead. Gabriel Martinelli had sprinted clear of his marker to latch onto Bukayo Saka’s through pass and finished confidently in the corner.
However, continuing the weekend’s trend, VAR was called into action to assess whether the visitors’ captain Martin Odegaard had fouled Christian Eriksen in the build-up to that goal, and it ruled against the Gunners, chalking off their advantage in a match they would go on to lose 3-1.
Speaking to the media after the match, the Norwegian was critical of VAR’s intervention, claiming that he had barely touched his opponent and that replays made it much worse.
“In my opinion, it’s never a foul. For me, it is very, very soft. On the camera, you can always make it look a little bit worse. It’s frustrating. I barely touched him, they keep saying this is the Premier League and want it to be physical. I don’t understand how he can go back on it,”
he said.
Odegaard’s comments added to the public scrutiny of VAR on a weekend of contentious decisions. The uproar had forced Premier League’s hands, with reports confirming that the league is set to review key incidents from its sixth round of fixtures with the help of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, the refereeing body in charge of officiating the game in England.
One of those incidents took place at Stamford Bridge, where VAR ruled in favor of Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who, as it appeared, was fouled by Jarrod Bowen in the lead-up to West Ham’s last-grasp equalizer – which was chalked off.
The second one happened in the match between Newcastle and Crystal Palace when the officials intervened to rule out Tyrick Mitchell’s own goal for a foul in the build-up, even though the Magpies’ player adjudged to have committed the foul – Joe Willock – was pushed himself by Mitchell.
