Chris Sutton shocked by controversial decision on Tomas Soucek as West Ham United draw with Chelsea
Chris Sutton said it had to be a penalty for a “handball from [Tomas] Soucek” late in the 1-1 draw between West Ham and Chelsea.
The London rivals shared the points in the early kick off on Saturday (11 February) at the London Stadium, as the Hammers weathered an early storm and pulled themselves level, before coming close to both winning and then losing at the end.
Just after an apparent winner from Soucek was ruled out by VAR for an offside against Declan Rice the Czech midfielder appeared to divert a Conor Gallagher shot wide with his hand in the area, but after a brief check from the video assistant no action was taken.
Reacting on his personal Twitter account a bemused Sutton wrote: “Handball from Soucek?? That has to be a penalty for Chelsea??”
Evened up
There’s no getting around the fact that it was one of the most surprising non-calls of this type in a sea of candidates since the introduction of VAR.
But West Ham fans, and David Moyes, will likely point to the fact that Maxwel Cornet’s late strike at Stamford Bridge on 3 September was also ruled out by a dubious decision from the assistant.
So perhaps the much-invoked evening up of decisions process has actually happened against the very same opponents, but two wrongs don’t make a right and it is more baffling evidence of what the officials are playing at in the Premier League these days.
Craig Pawson and his team, as well as Neil Swarbrick as the VAR, didn’t have a great game all round but the Irons themselves again showed fight.
Much like the 1-1 draw at Newcastle last weekend (4 February) it looked like being a long afternoon when Chelsea had the ball in the net three times early on, with two ruled out for offside.
But former Blues man Emerson pulled the home side level, and thereafter the match was far more of an even affair.
Yet more injuries, to big money summer acquisitions Lucas Paqueta and Nayef Aguerd will be the latest headache for Moyes to deal with, but draws in back-to-back games against super-rich opposition isn’t a bad return.