The irony is that the team that popularized the WWE-style corner routine will (presumably) win the Premier League title, with the decision to exclude grappling and keeping goals in the corner working in their favor. One thing I want to be clear about is that if the referee rules that type of goal out as a foul, the entire Premier League season will have to be restarted.
In isolation, the incidents involving West Ham’s Pablo and Arsenal’s David Raya were fouls. It’s impossible to argue against that. The attacker grabbed Raya’s arm and the goalkeeper was unable to catch the ball. It wasn’t that the Spaniard didn’t perform well, but he certainly made the most of the arm contact.
But it’s a foul. The problem is similar to Declan Rice’s rugby tackle on Konstantinos Mavropanos. Martin Odegaard has been doing something similar to Jean-Clair Todibo for a long time. Come to think of it, Todibo himself has a fist full of Raya shirts. Even as Pablo closes in on Raya, Leandro Trossard slams the striker to the ground. Before the ball even entered the box, Tomas Soucek had gotten into an altercation with Kai Havertz and was on the floor. Chronologically speaking, that was the first incident.
At least five incidents that could have been considered fouls all occurred at the same time, but only one warranted intervention. Gary Neville, on commentary for Sky Sports, relayed information from Stockley Park that the approach of an opponent would not amount to a penalty as it happened after the incident with Raya and Pablo.
That’s despite several replays from different angles showing several Arsenal players grabbing their opponent by the waist, grappling and dragging him before Pablo made contact with the Gunners shot-stopper. And not only is there a problem with this decision, but also with the application of this law throughout the season.
Corner kicks are similar to American football scrimmages throughout the season. The players, especially those from set-piece kings Arsenal, have been testing their limits since the opening weekend of the season and overcoming them. Just look at the winning goal when Arsenal beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford on the opening weekend.
The Premier League and its referees exposed themselves at the London Stadium. That was an admission of guilt. We realized that we allowed the hold and grapple in the corner to continue for too long. The only problem is that 36 games is too late.
