By Mike Southey

9th Nov, 2020 | 8:15pm

Dermot Gallagher shares verdict on West Ham winner in Fulham clash

West Ham United were relieved to beat Fulham 1-0 in the Premier League on Saturday evening.

Tomas Soucek scored the winner in the final moments at the London Stadium, although the drama wasn’t finished there as Ademola Lookman missed a penalty.

VAR was heavily involved in the game, checking Soucek’s winner, which gave us a nervous wait regarding Sebastien Haller’s positioning.

Dermot Gallagher has shared his verdict on Monday’s edition of Ref Watch, claiming they were right to allow the goal to stand.

“It’s so far above his head that he’s deemed not to be interfering with play as he can’t play that ball,” he told Sky Sports.

“It’s impossible for him to play it because of the height of the cross. It’s perhaps one of the few times that the law works in the forward’s favour. Once the defender heads it out, the ball is still in play. As it gets returned back, Haller was in an onside position.”

Given the number of contentious decisions in the Premier League, it would have been no surprise if this goal was disallowed for no apparent reason.

Take the hand-ball decisions for penalties in two games, and the Patrick Bamford offside in the Leeds clash with Crystal Palace, this appears to be the only decision where common-sense was used.

Haller did start in an offside position, but at no point was he ever interfering with play or close to making an impact on the ball or goal.

Thankfully, the goal stood and the Irons can go into the international break on the back of another important three points after a tough couple of weeks.

In other West Ham United news, Angelo Ogbonna undergoes Monday scan on injury