The organisation in charge of overseeing match officials in English football, Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL), has acknowledged two “serious errors” with VAR offside judgements, one of which went against Arsenal and may have an impact on the Premier League championship battle.
On Saturday, Arsenal and Brentford drew 1-1 at home.
Ivan Toney’s equaliser for the visitors in the 74th minute gave them a point.
Lee Mason, the game’s VAR, initiated a review for a potential offside against Ethan Pinnock that was later cleared, however he missed the fact that Christian Norgaard, who assisted Toney’s score, had returned from an offside position.
The goal was allowed to stand because Mason did not apply the offside lines.
With Wednesday’s matchup at the Emirates, Arsenal now has a six-point lead over Manchester City.
With Gabriel Martinelli’s disallowed goal at Manchester United, when the score was 0-0 in a game the Gunners lost 3-1, determined by the independent review panel to be an inappropriate intervention, it is the second significant VAR error involving Mason and Arsenal.
In their 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, Brighton & Hove Albion also suffered from a VAR blunder when Pervis Estupinan’s goal was disallowed for offside.
PGMOL has acknowledged that this choice was incorrect as well since the VAR, John Brooks, and the Hawk-Eye technology operator misplaced the offside line.
The new chief refereeing officer of PGMOL, Howard Webb, has pledged to make decisions with more openness and transparency, particularly by acknowledging when serious errors have been made.
PGMOL acknowledged two weeks ago that Fabinho ought to have been dismissed for tackling Brighton & Hove Albion forward Evan Ferguson during an FA Cup match.
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