PGMOL, the refereeing body in English football, has accepted that the VAR intervention to deny West Ham United an equaliser against Chelsea was wrong, according to The Times’ chief sports reporter Martyn Ziegler.
The Lowdown: Cornet’s disallowed goal
On Saturday, the Hammers travelled to Stamford Bridge for their latest Premier League clash against the Blues.
After the Irons went in front through Michail Antonio in the 62nd minute, Ben Chilwell tied the scores with less than 15 minutes to go before Kai Havertz bagged an 88th-minute winner.
However, just moments after Chelsea’s second goal, West Ham summer signing Maxwel Cornet thought he had struck an equaliser, pouncing on a mix-up between Reece James and Edouard Mendy.
Referee Andy Madley was sent to the monitor by VAR official Jarred Gillet to have another look at the goal for an apparent challenge on the Blues goalkeeper by Jarrod Bowen, with the goal consequently being disallowed.
The Latest: PGMOL admit to VAR mistake
With West Ham manager David Moyes and captain Declan Rice having vented their frustrations with the decision, the east London club asked the Premier League to provide clarification over the ruling.
Ziegler has now learnt of PGMOL’s findings, with the refereeing body admitting that a mistake had been made regarding Cornet’s overturned goal and resolving to learn from the controversy.
Taking to Twitter, the reliable journalist claimed: “NEW: PGMOL is understood to have effectively accepted the VAR interventions to disallow West Ham + Newcastle goals were wrong. Will co-operate with PL request to review the 2 incidents, + will take lessons from the outcome.”
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The Verdict: Every point counts
With the 2-1 loss a disappointing result for Moyes given his team’s hard-fought battle against Chelsea, West Ham now sit 18th in the Premier League table, having gained just four points from their opening six games.
However, a point at the weekend would have kept them out of the relegation zone, as the Irons would then have ended the matchday in 16th place.
Whilst this doesn’t seem like the be-all and end-all of the campaign with 32 games still to go, every point counts towards the end of the season; especially in the Hammers’ case, as they would expect to be pushing for a strong European finish.
Therefore, with such mistakes being made by referees in the top flight, fair and accurate results seem a long way off, with West Ham the latest victims in a series of damaging decisions made in the Premier League over a hugely controversial weekend.