Ben White gave Arsenal a 1-0 lead after just seven minutes in the Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night, but the full-back’s finishing was not without controversy.
Ben White scores Arsenal’s first goal (Image: Getty Images)
Chelsea have been told that Arsenal’s early goal in Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup was justified despite questions about the integrity of VAR.
Ben White opened the scoring for the Gunners just seven minutes into the game, using his backstick to set up Declan Rice’s pinpoint corner-kick with no response. However, when the ball was sucked into the back of the goal, Victor Gokeres appeared to be blocking Marc Giu in an offside position.
As a result, VAR took little time to review the incident and the foul play was quickly cleared as the goal was conceded. Sky Sports’ panel of Mark Chapman, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Jamie Redknapp discussed the incident at half-time, with Chapman explaining: “It was briefly reviewed by VAR, but their opinion was that Gokeres had no impact on the opponent’s ability to play the ball, as their judgment is subjective.”
In response, Hasselbaink said: “For me it wasn’t offside. Arsenal did well, they did well. What we were all talking about before the game was that they were strong on set-pieces and he didn’t see the ball.”
Chapman added: “And they were able to do it very quickly. Jared Gillett said on VAR, ‘It’s not affecting anyone’s ability to play the ball. Goal, move on.'” Redknapp said: “Good.
“Otherwise we would have had to provide duvets to all our supporters here while we wait for a decision. We can’t do that.”
This comes after Manchester City had a goal ruled out against Newcastle United in the competition on Tuesday night. Sky Blues already held a 1-0 advantage with Antoine Semenyo’s first goal in the 53rd minute.
Ben White’s goal is scored (Image: Arsenal FC, Getty Images)
However, the Ghanaian player was refused a fixation after about 10 minutes. Semenyo met Tijani Lijnders’ corner kick with his thigh as the ball skipped over a helpless Nick Pope, but the visitors’ euphoria was incredibly short-lived.
In the aftermath, VAR, which spotted Erling Haaland in an offside position in front of Malik Thiau, decided to intervene and asked Chris Kavanagh to take another look at the pitchside monitor.
Although Haaland did not touch the ball, he was deemed to have interfered with Thiau’s ability to clear the ball, and Kavanagh said: “After consideration, Manchester City’s No. 9 is in an offside position, which affects the defender’s ability.The final decision was that he was offside.”
However, Chris Sutton, who was co-commentary on Sky Sports throughout the match, was not impressed by the ruling. He said, “I have to say, I think the game is over.
Antoine Semenyo denied two goals against Newcastle (Image: Getty Images)
“Is he really going to stop that Chiau? The distance between him and Semenyo is probably a yard or a yard and a half. Chiau is not going to react to that. That’s just a guess by the referee.”
In his review, he also explained: “I could see the communication from Semenyo. Is Haaland really interfering with Nick Pope that much?” Afterwards he said: “I have to say I don’t think so. Look at the distance between Semenyo and Nick Pope. I think it would be incredibly harsh to rule this out.”
The decision gave Newcastle a lifeline, but in the bigger picture it delayed the inevitable at St James’ Park. That’s because, in the dying embers of the game, Rayan Cherki ensured the Sky Blues went into the come-from-behind at the Etihad Stadium on February 4 with a two-goal advantage.
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