PGMOL chief Howard Webb has vindicated VAR’s decision to intervene and send William Saliba off during Arsenal’s recent defeat against Bournemouth.
The France international initially escaped with a caution after he hauled down Evanilson close the halfway line.
Referee Rob Jones initially believed Ben White had been close enough to the Bournemouth forward to to prevent an obvious goalscoring opportunity, but the VAR took issue with his judgement and after consulting the pitchside monitor Jones reversed his decision.
As a result, Saliba was given his marching orders for the first time in his career, Arsenal slumped to a costly 1-0 defeat and the defender missed his side’s next game against table topping Liverpool.
Arsenal had considered putting an appeal together but Webb insists that would have been a waste of time given the weight of evidence supporting VAR’s decision and blamed Leandro Trossard’s wayward pass, one which put Saliba in trouble, for Jones’ initial error.
He said: ‘I think that the offence committed by William Saliba in this situation did deny Evanilson an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
‘I think the yellow card that was issued by Rob Jones on the field was clearly and obviously wrong.
‘It’s a poor pass back by Leandro Trossard that puts Evanilson in and then Saliba grabs him. So suddenly from Arsenal having possession, the referees are faced with having to make a decision very quickly.
‘Sometimes with denial of clear goalscoring opportunity (DOGSO) you have time to prepare your mind for what’s going happen.
‘Initially they believe that Ben White was closer than he actually was. And they also weren’t convinced that Evanilson would control the ball.
‘There’s two things that VAR can do here to prove that the on-field decision was wrong. Firstly, you can see that Ben White is a long way away.
‘He’s not going to get to Evanlison from that position. And then secondly, they can see that David Raya is backing off and when the ball dies in front of Evanilson, even though it’s some distance from goal, he’s going to get on to that ball.
‘He’s going to have time to gain nice control just for the goalkeeper to beat.
‘So, for me, a good intervention by the VAR, a clear and obvious error in not showing a red card on the field.’
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