Arsenal's late goal disallowed for Gabriel Martinelli's offside is the “biggest VAR decision of the season so far”, says Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp.
With the score at 1-1, Bukayo Saka sparked wild celebrations when he headed home from Martinelli's cross in the 88th minute, but a VAR review found the latter was offside in the build-up and the goal was disallowed.
The match ended level at Craven Cottage, with Arsenal missing a great opportunity to move four points behind Liverpool in the Premier League. The Reds' match against Everton on Saturday was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions.
Discussing the late drama and the impact it could have on the title race, Redknapp told Super Sunday: “What a weekend for Liverpool. Man City are dropping points, Arsenal are dropping points and they've put themselves in an even better position.
“Arne Slot would have watched those last few minutes with heart and soul and the biggest VAR decision of the season so far.
“It was absolutely incredible, but Martinelli just had to stay out.”
Fellow Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson was scathing about Marinelli himself, adding: “He is offside but in football terms that is criminal of Martinelli.
“You can't be offside. You look down the line. He has speed, so he's not someone who tries to steal a yard and play on the edge.
“I'd be surprised if he's not in the dressing room with the manager because even he knows. You could see it on his face afterwards, he knows you can't do that.”
“One thing if you look along that line: don't be offside. It's that simple.”
Merson: Liverpool advantage in title race
Former Arsenal striker Merson also believes the draw is a damaging result for Arsenal and they need to win at Craven Cottage to clinch the league title.
“It's not a good result,” he said. “Two points have been lost. They were just making a small point and it ended up being a nightmare with the disallowed goal.
“They had to win this game. Advantage Liverpool.
“Arsenal could have finished with four [points behind Liverpool] and that would have been a huge advantage for them.
“Now Liverpool have a game in hand and it's a bad result. It's not an easy place to go but if you want to win Premier League titles you have to win at Craven Cottage.”
Arteta: We can't cry about the result
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was keen to point out the positives of his side's performance despite a draw, adding that he does not want players to feel sorry for themselves.
At a press conference after the match, he said: 'I think it's a shame we didn't win the match because I think we deserved to win from the beginning to the end. We did almost everything we had to do to win the game.
“But this is the quality of the opposition, with one chance they score a goal. And then also the margins of the competition. Within millimeters we could have been here with three points after a very strong and dominant performance against a very strong and dominant player, good team.
“You can't cry about it. That is also the great thing about this competition. The great thing about this team is also how they can play today, even under these conditions and against good opposition. I am very happy about that.”
“We played very well against a very good team. Normally you don't see these kinds of matches here.
“Now we have to continue to improve and look at what we can do better so that the opponent has zero chances to win the match. That is the goal.”
Fulham manager Marco Silva added to Sky Sports: “We had a plan and the first thing is to praise the players for their commitment and stick to it. It is difficult in terms of performance because on the ball it was not the game we normally like to play.” .
“After the early goal, Arsenal started to press us in a different way, they started to play more one-on-one situations. The weather conditions were also not good, which is not an excuse, but it did cause a few problems for us.” to play how we normally want to get the ball.”
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