Arsenal’s late disallowed goal for Gabriel Martinelli’s offside is ‘biggest VAR decision of the season’, says Jamie Redknapp | Football News

Arsenal’s late disallowed goal due to Gabriel Martinelli being offside is the “biggest VAR decision of the season so far,” says Sky Sports expert Jamie Redknapp.

With the score tied at 1-1, Bukayo Saka sparked wild celebrations in the 88th minute when he headed into the goal from a cross from Martinelli – but a VAR check revealed that the latter was offside in advance and the goal was ruled out.

The game ended in a draw at Craven Cottage, with Arsenal missing a great opportunity to finish four points behind Liverpool in the Premier League table. The Reds’ game against Everton on Saturday was postponed due to adverse weather conditions.

Redknapp spoke about the late drama and the impact it could have on the title race Great Sunday: “What a weekend for Liverpool. Man City lose points, Arsenal lose points and they have put themselves in an even better position.”

“Arne Slot would have had his heart in his mouth when he saw those last few minutes and the biggest VAR decision of the season so far.

“It was absolutely incredible, but Martinelli just had to stay offside.”

fellow Sky Sports Pundit Paul Merson was scathing about Marinelli himself, adding: “He’s offside, but from a footballing point of view it’s criminal on Martinelli’s part.”

“You can’t be offside. You look along the line. He has speed, so he’s not someone who’s trying to get a yard and play right at the rim.”

“I would be surprised if he wasn’t on the receiving end of a comment from the manager in the dressing room because even he knows it. You could see it on his face afterwards, he knows you can’t do something like that.”

“One thing is when you look that way: don’t be offside. It’s that simple.”

Merson: Liverpool have an advantage in the title race

Former Arsenal striker Merson also believes the draw is a damaging result for Arsenal and that they need to win at Craven Cottage to clinch the league title.

“This is not a good result,” he said. “Two points were lost. They just had a little run and in the end it was a nightmare with the goal disallowed.”

“They had to win this game. Advantage Liverpool.”

“Arsenal could have got four (points behind Liverpool) and that would have been a big advantage for them.”

“Now Liverpool have a game in hand and it’s a bad result. It’s not an easy place to be but if you want to win Premier League titles you have to win at Craven Cottage.”

Arteta: We can’t cry about the result

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wanted to highlight his team’s positive performance despite the draw, adding that he didn’t want the players to feel sorry for themselves.

At a post-match press conference he said: “I’m disappointed we didn’t win it because I think we deserved to win from start to finish. We did almost everything we had to do to win it.”

“But that is the quality of the opponent, with a chance to score a goal. And then there are the gaps in the league. Within millimeters we could have been sitting here with three points after a really strong and dominant performance against a really strong opponent.” good team.

“You can’t cry about it. That’s the beauty of this league. The beauty of this team is also how they can play today, even under these circumstances and against good opponents. I’m really happy about that.”

“We put in a really good performance against a really good team. You don’t normally see games like this here.”

“Now we have to continue to improve and see what we can do better so that the opponent no longer has a chance of winning the game. That’s the goal.”

Fulham manager Marco Silva added Sky Sports: “We had a plan and the first thing we have to do is praise the players for their commitment and stick to it. Performance-wise it’s difficult because the ball wasn’t the game we normally like to play.”

“After the early goal, Arsenal started to put pressure on us differently, they played more one-on-one situations. The weather conditions weren’t good either, which is no excuse, but it did cause us a few problems playing the way we normally like to on the ball.