Former Premier League referee Mark Halsey has explained why West Ham's penalty against Arsenal was not overturned. The Gunners launched out of the blocks at the London Stadium and secured a two-goal lead inside the opening ten minutes, with goals from Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard.
But, the visitors quickly lost their foothold on the tie after Lucas Paqueta won a controversial penalty. Thomas Partey was dispossessed by Declan Rice, who then slotted the Brazilian through on goal.
Paqueta was clipped by Gabriel Magalhaes inside the box and David Coote immediately pointed to the spot, with the Video Assistant Referee confirming the on-field decision. In the build-up to the foul, Rice appeared to handle the ball and lots of Arsenal fans rushed to social media to vent their frustrations.
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Some sections of the Gunners fanbase also believed that there was not enough contact on Paqueta worthy of a penalty. However, in an interview with The Sun, Halsey explained exactly why Arsenal shouldn't have any qualms about the verdict.
"Lucas Paqueta went past Gabriel and it’s clear the Arsenal defender caught him so it was an obvious penalty," the former Premier League referee said. "It was a careless challenge and Arsenal cannot have any complaints.
"There were suggestions Declan Rice handled the ball in the build up, but even if there was contact, it looked to be accidental and accidental handball is not an offence. VAR would not get involved in that situation because it was subjective."
In the second-half, Arsenal were awarded a penalty as well after the ball struck Michail Antonio's forearm. Coote pointed to the spot once more, and Halsey believes that the referee made the correct decision again.
"The law is clear, if you’re making yourself bigger and your arms are out and move towards the ball, the referee will give a penalty," he added. "We see a lot of those given week in, week out. That’s why the handball law is an ass.
"They changed the law to try and simplify it but the new law has made it even more confusing. The VAR was never going to overturn that. Both penalty decisions were correct.
"We want to see the on-field referee making decisions. We don’t want referees not getting involved and waiting for VAR to help. And fair play to David Coote because he made the decisions himself yesterday."
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