Decision to disallow equaliser for West Ham v Chelsea a ‘howler’ – Chris Sutton
Chris Sutton stated that the decision to disallow an equaliser for West Ham in their Premier League defeat against Chelsea was a “howler”.
The Hammers suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Blues in controversial circumstances at Stamford Bridge on Saturday where Maxwel Cornet’s goal was disallowed for an apparent Jarrod Bowen foul on goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
In a column for Daily Mail, Sutton lambasted match officials for making a call that according to him was a “wrong decision”.
“As for the howlers, let’s start with West Ham at Chelsea,” he wrote. “Maxwel Cornet’s goal was originally awarded.
“Referee Andy Madley didn’t see anything wrong in real-time. But VAR Jarred Gillett looked closely at Jarrod Bowen dragging his foot over Edouard Mendy in the build-up.
“Was that enough to disallow it? Absolutely not. And yet, Gillett sent Madley to his pitch-side monitor, Mendy’s play-acting perhaps adding to the confusion.
“The referee followed Stockley Park’s advice. It was the wrong decision. You know it, I know it. I’d love to try to play devil’s advocate and tell you why it was a foul, but I can’t.
“I hope David Moyes isn’t punished for his post-match comments, because that would be a double kick in the teeth for West Ham.”
Poor
West Ham’s season started as poorly as they could’ve imagined where they suffered three back-to-back defeats against Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Brighton in the first three matches of the league campaign.
Things started to change for good following those results as the Hammers went on to beat Aston Villa away from home and secured a well-deserved 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur.
On Saturday, the Irons’ fans would’ve been hoping for the team to continue their progress and produce another positive result but that was not to be, not because the players had a poor outing but largely because of the referee’s decision.
A result like that is definitely a hard pill to swallow as there is nothing you can do to overcome such hurdles and David Moyes was well within his rights to criticise the officials after the game in such a brutal manner.
However, it is also the duty of the former Manchester United manager to ensure that his players will have their focus back in a week where they are about to enter in the group stage of the UEFA Conference League.