Dermot Gallagher questions decision to disallow Arsenal goal

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Dermot Gallagher has told Sky Sports News that he does not agree with the decision to disallow Arsenal’s late goal in their 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on Sunday.

The Gunners looked to have the game won when Sokratis found the back of the net for a second time late on. However, VAR intervened and ruled that Palace midfielder Luka Milivojevic had been fouled by Calum Chambers just before Sokratis’s attempt.

The decision infuriated the Arsenal fans. And former Premier League referee Gallagher suggested that the Gunners fans had a right to feel aggrieved by the goal being disallowed.

“The VAR’s thinking is, when he forensically diagnoses it, so to speak, that Chambers trips Milivojevic there. I think it’s a tough, tough call. For me, it’s not a foul,” he told Sky Sports News.

“I don’t think it’s a foul, and I don’t think it’s clear and obvious. What I would say is he took his time, he went through it frame by frame, and that’s the decision he came to.”

It is certainly very easy to sympathise with Arsenal. It is hardly a hot take to criticise the use of VAR. But that particular incident can arguably be held up as the perfect example of how the technology appears to be being used so poorly.

Even with a number of replays slowed right down, it is not clear that Chambers has committed a foul. And it could be suggested that Chambers himself is fouled at the same time. He is also blocked off by Milivojevic as the ball comes into the box.

Handing Arsenal a penalty in that situation would have obviously been an incredibly controversial decision. But it would have arguably been no more contentious than the decision the officials ultimately came to.