Tomas Soucek fired West Ham ahead despite the ball appearing to go out of play (Picture: Getty)
Alan Shearer has blamed Arsenal duo Declan Rice and Gabriel Magalhaes over Tomas Soucek’s contentious goal for West Ham on Thursday night.
Arsenal were left furious as VAR controversially did not rule out Soucek’s first-half goal at the Emirates after the ball appeared to go out of play in the build-up.
Shearer, though, has singled out Rice and Gabriel for criticism over the Hammers’ opening goal for failing to stop Jarrod Bowen, who provided the assist.
‘When they look at it, [Arsenal will] be really disappointed,’ Shearer told Amazon Prime in his half-time analysis.
‘Bowen is able to get in behind Rice and in front of Gabriel. He decided to mark the space instead of mark the man.
‘There’s plenty to get stuck into despite whether the ball went out or not. If you look at Rice, he doesn’t know where Bowen is.
‘Gabriel does know where Bowen is, and he can mark him, he should mark him in reality.
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‘He goes to defend the space instead of the man. Bowen is the one who causes the damage and keeps the ball alive and Soucek sticks it away.
‘From Arsenal’s point of view, it is really poor defending.’
Meanwhile, Gary Neville couldn’t help himself from trolling Arsenal fans following Soucek’s controversial goal in north London.
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‘Really poor defending.’