Rio Ferdinand happy on BT Sport as Chelsea go bananas at unbelievable West Ham United incident
Rio Ferdinand was pleased that West Ham got away without conceding a late penalty against Chelsea but admitted he couldn’t believe they had.
Tomas Soucek’s hand diverted Conor Gallagher’s late shot wide at the London Stadium as the game went on to finish 1-1.
The one-time Irons defender was glad the home side had got the benefit of the doubt, but was joined by fellow BT Sport pundits Gianfranco Zola and Joe Cole in declaring it a definite penalty.
Speaking live on the BT Sport coverage of the match on Saturday (11 February, 2.41pm) Ferdinand said: “Wow. I was happy that the referee didn’t see it, VAR didn’t see it, but I thought he more or less saved it. It was a great save…
“No wonder these players in Chelsea shirts are going bananas, I’d have been going crazy… He gets down really well to his left, what a save that is. I can’t believe that’s not been given. It’s unbelievable. It’s lucky.”
Lynsey Hipgrave suggested: “Is he using the arm to break the fall, to stop himself hitting the ground, or is it a clear hand ball?”
“Come on Linsey,” came the response from Ferdinand.
Zola then added: “Clearly the hand is not attached to the body and there’s a shot at goal that’s been blocked. In my opinion, clearly a penalty.”
Cole agreed as well: “The crucial thing for me was the distance Soucek was from Gallagher. If he’s right next to him and he hits the ball at his arm then you can argue no penalty, but when you’re that far away you get a split second. He knows what he’s doing. It’s a penalty.”
Fortune
There hasn’t been a great deal of luck flying around this season for West Ham, and with Nayef Aguerd and Lucas Paqueta both leaving the pitch injured in the Chelsea game there was still a sting in the tail.
But the late drama was finally a decent slice of luck, although it just evens out the Hammers’ equaliser at Stamford Bridge on 3 September that was disallowed.
David Moyes will be fairly pleased to have come away from the derby game with a point, considering two tight offsides prevented his side being in a 3-0 hole early on, but might have been disappointed not to win it in the end.
Declan Rice was himself just offside prior to Soucek’s strike which looked to have secured all three points, but it is still another game unbeaten which can’t be dismissed in this struggle of a campaign.
Newcastle, Chelsea and Tottenham in succession didn’t look overly enticing for a side stuck just outside the relegation zone, but fighting back in the first two to secure draws is a solid return.
Another result against Spurs and it should stand the team in good stead to start putting some points on the board against supposed weaker sides, although the supporters might wish to see it before they believe it this season.