West Ham’s London Stadium was a jubilant place when Callum Wilson snapped home a stoppage-time equalizer against Arsenal, but a long VAR review took the goal away and shook up the Premier League’s title and relegation races.
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Wilson’s goal was reviewed for several minutes before the referee was sent to the pitchside monitor for a deeper look. He eventually ruled a foul on David Raya and took the goal off of the scoreboard.
Correctly or not, West Ham and many others were confused and there was heaping helping of situational irony given Arsenal’s physical attacking corner kicks had seemingly changed how fouls were awarded in the Premier League this season.
Here are West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo and star Jarrod Bowen on that call and more.
Nuno Espirito reaction after West Ham equalizer taken away by VAR versus Arsenal
It was a heated tunnel after the game: “Due to the circumstances of the game, we were all upset of course.”
What did you think of apparent fouls on West Ham players in addition to the Raya incident? “I didn’t pay attention to the replay just to not get more upset but look there’s a referee, there’s VAR, there’s circumstances in the past that have been judged different so let’s not go more further than that.”
A crazy twist to the title and relegation races? “That’s what I said, due to the recent season, it’s been happening and even the referees don’t know what to call so it creates a lot of doubt and speculation.”
Jarrod Bowen deeply upset by VAR denial of late West Ham goal vs Arsenal
How does the ending feel? “A real blow. We thought we’d done so well to get back into this game, taking nothing away from a decision that will be queried about the next couple of weeks.”
On the VAR decision: “Listen when you’re looking at a screen for five minutes, in the end you’re going to find something that you were sent over there to find. Do I think it’s the right decision? No, but you have to accept it.”
“That’s the frustration — where’s the consistency? As a fan you’re a viewer you don’t want to be waiting eight minutes and then have it taken away. It’s the most physical league in the world. It’s why everyone loves it. In corners you have to expect contact. If you’re going to give decisions like that you have to give all the holding calls in the world. We had one with Tomas Soucek getting held at Brentford that wasn’t given as a penalty.”
“He’s coming out of his six-yard box, he’s gotta expect some contact. Where’s the line? … Take that away we’ve lost the game in a game we knew we’d have to be good in our shape.”
