Danny Murphy has heaped praise on VAR after West Ham United were handed a penalty reprieve in their 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening.
Despite falling behind courtesy of Thilo Kehrer's own-goal, West Ham hit back to secure their first home point of the Premier League season with Tomáš Souček netting a second-half strike.
However, it had initially appeared that the Irons could fall behind just 11 minutes into the encounter when Harry Kane's header struck the arm of Irons defender Aaron Creswell and referee Peter Bankes pointed to the penalty spot.
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But a lengthy VAR check resulted in Bankes re-watching the incident and subsequently overruling his original decision, something that BBC Match of the Day pundit Murphy was in full agreement with.
"Well, I think you can forget the close proximity of it, because it has come off his head for a start and when it comes off his head and then on his arm, we know that it’s not going to be given a penalty," Murphy claimed. "It’s the right decision, that is what VAR is for, to try and get the right decision.
"We saw one, I think it was last week or two weeks ago with Lucas Digne, very similar, which was the wrong decision. They even came out and said it was the wrong decision. When we saw that, we knew that he was going to overturn. Well done VAR."
The former England and Spurs midfielder's comments contradict those of Antonio Conte, though, who agreed with Bankes' original call and believes his side were wrongly denied of a spot-kick.
Conte stated post-match: "Honestly, at the end of the first half, I spoke with the referee and told him: 'You have taken the right decision.'
"It is incredible that VAR looked again, called the referee, he can see it was the right decision and the call from VAR was strange. I can tell only that the referee has taken the right decision. Usually the VAR calls when the call is not right."
David Moyes' men face another London rival at the weekend when they visit Stamford Bridge to take on struggling Chelsea.
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