Arsenal's opening goal against Liverpool was unable to be checked by VAR for offside due to a technical issue preventing the incident being properly reviewed.
Gabriel Martinelli gave the Gunners an early lead in the meeting between the teams at the Emirates Stadium, though there was some debate as to whether or not this goal should have stood. It was Bukayo Saka who carried the ball forward for the hosts prior to his team-mate finding the back of the net, but the England international appeared to be stood in a possible offside position upon first receiving the ball from Ben White.
The offside flag stayed down and the goal was then reviewed, however, as first reported by ESPN, a conclusive verdict could not be reached due to Saka not being visible in any of the five Hawk-Eye cameras that are utilised when decisions are referred to Stockley Park for further assessment.
Footage from a tactical camera near the halfway line featured the 21-year-old in frame, but the ECHO understands virtual offside lines could not be drawn to ascertain whether the Arsenal forward had mistimed his run due to not being calibrated to support such actions. Michael Oliver was therefore left with no other choice than to stick with the on-field decision.
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This has been supported by football pundit Richard Keys, who claimed in his personal blog the officials were left with no other option but to guess regarding the positioning of Saka in relation to Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was the furthest man back in Liverpool's defensive line.
"I've argued that when decisions are - the forward should always get the advantage so I’d be happy if the PGMOL have had a change of heart. Except they haven’t. They missed it. How do I know? Because we asked the match centre for the proof that Saka was on. We wanted to see the lines they’d used to make their decision. They couldn’t provide them. Why? Because they didn't use them. If they checked it - they guessed," said Keys.
A similar incident occurred in Serie A last month, which saw Juventus denied an injury-time winner due to VAR malfunction. Leonardo Bonucci thought he had won the game for his side, only for the video technology to intervene and deem the defender offside.
It later emerged Salernitana midfielder Antonio Candreva was playing the whole Juventus team onside after being stood by the corner flag, though this was not picked up as the VAR cameras calibrated for monitoring the match did not have Candreva in view and was not picked up on during a second inspection.
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