By Azeem Siddiqui

5th Sep, 2022 | 12:10pm

Decision to disallow West Ham second goal v Chelsea ‘shocking’ - Pablo Zabaleta

Former Argentina defender Pablo Zabaleta has called the decision to disallow a potential equaliser from West Ham against Chelsea as “shocking.”

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.

Talking about it on ESPN FC, Zabaleta was of the opinion that the bigger problem in the whole action of the play was how Chelsea’s goalkeeper faked the injury.

“That was a shocking decision,” said the 37-year-old. “No chance that was a foul. No chance. Bowen was just trying to get over him [Mendy].

“It’s just a small contact and it’s not enough for a foul. When Mendy goes down and sees that the ball was heading toward a West Ham player, then he faked an injury. That was the problem.”

Time to move on

That decision left a lot of frustration amongst the West Ham fans who would’ve been hoping for at least a point after their team put in an incredible performance, that too while playing away from home against a top-four contender.

However, it is now time to move on from that results as there are bigger things at stake for the Hammers, especially in Europe where David Moyes will be eyeing another deep run after playing in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals last season where they suffered a defeat against eventual champions Eintracht Frankfurt.

Not only that but also on the domestic front, West Ham’s start has been far from perfect where they are placed in the relegation zone with just four points after the first six matches which included four defeats as well.

Those numbers will not going to be satisfactory for anyone who is associated with the club because the Irons were hoping to secure a finish in the top seven once again just like they did last year but as things stand, they are already five points behind seventh-placed Liverpool.