West Ham: Sky Sports pundit reacts to controversial Emerson Palmieri VAR incident v Aston Villa
West Ham United defender Emerson Palmieri was perhaps fortunate not to give away a penalty in the first half against Aston Villa, according to Sky Sports pundit Dean Ashton.
The left-back was pointing at a teammate to give him some assistance when a clip into the penalty area from Douglas Luiz clipped his arm during Sunday’s (17 March) at the London Stadium.
It was checked and reviewed by VAR but it was ruled there was no need for referee to take any further action.
Former Hammers striker, speaking as a pundit for Sky Sports News, says he would not want to see it given as a spot-kick but thinks other similar decisions have been made this season.
“It’s a potential handball by Emerson, interesting, it’s just played out to the right-hand side and Leon Bailey, as he does, just kind of dabs the ball with that left foot,” he began.
“He just sees a little run from Luiz and he just tries to lift it into his path and Emerson’s actually pointing to his midfield player to say can you cover, so as he points the ball gets flicked up but he’s so close I don’t think it should be a penalty.
“It’s so close and hits his arm but I’m pretty sure Aston Villa and Unai Emery will say ‘hang on there’s been those given earlier on in the season when they were really hot on those’.
“But they checked it and nothing was given. I would say there’s no way I’d want that to be given even as a forward and a penalty taker, he’s naturally pointing where he wants his midfielder to be and help him out.”
The game finished 1-1 in an incident-packed fixture at the London Stadium.
Was Emerson Palmieri lucky in West Ham v Aston Villa?
File this one under “I’ve seen them given”.
Look, it is seriously difficult right now to show any sort of objectivity around handball decisions because, quite frankly, even the officials themselves barely appear to know what constitutes and offence.
This was one of those where, as Ashton alluded to, Palmieri was literally just pointing, so it’s a pretty natural thing for a defender to do – point to a team-mate and tell him where he should be.
Others might argue so what if he was pointing? It’s (technically I guess) not a natural position for his hand to be in. But given the proximity of the two players and the fact it was a natural act it would have been an extremely harsh decision.
Common sense seemingly, and rarely, triumphed on this occasion and Emerson avoided further punishment. On a different day, with a different referee, or a different VAR, he might not have been so in that sense maybe he was a little lucky on this occasion at the London Stadium.
In other West Ham news, one David Moyes issue remains at the London Stadium.
For more West Ham news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.