William Saliba was not punished for bringing down Goncalo Guedes inside Arsenal’s area (Action Plus/Shutterstock)
Arsenal escaped an ‘absolute VAR error’ in their 2-0 victory over Wolves which has extended their lead at the top of the Premier League.
Following Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat to Brentford earlier on Saturday, Mikel Arteta’s side grabbed the chance to go five points clear of the Premier League champions.
Martin Odegaard’s second-half double sealed Arsenal’s win against Wolves at Molineaux but the Gunners were fortunate not to have William Saliba sent off after just eight minutes as he brought down Goncalo Guedes inside the penalty area.
Saliba’s apparent foul went unpunished, while Wolves’ interim boss Steve Davis said after the game: ‘The decision in the first half should’ve gone for us.
‘He’s onside and it was a foul and he was the last man so it was a goalscoring opportunity and potentially a red card. We feel hard done by because those moments are really important to us at the moment.
‘It changes the mentality even more, defending a goal that you should’ve had. VAR, not sure whether they use it – no point in having it if you’re not going to use it. They have to decide if they want VAR and if they do they need to use it.’
Former Arsenal Women’s midfielder Karen Carney described the decision as ‘an absolute error from VAR’ (Shutterstock)
Speaking about the incident, former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink told Sky Sports: ‘For me that’s a foul, as simple as it is.
‘Saliba is late, you can see that Guedes gets the ball before him and he’s late. It’s a foul and it’s a penalty.’
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Former Arsenal, Chelsea and England Women’s midfielder Karen Carney added: ‘Yeah, completely agree.
‘You see it clearly, he comes through and makes contact, it’s an absolute error from the VAR team to step in, that should’ve been a penalty.’
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Arsenal got away with one here.
