Tomas Soucek was denied a late winner for West Ham as they had to settle for a Premier League point against Aston Villa at London Stadium.
Soucek thought he had won it for the Hammers in the dying stages of added time, after getting on the end of James Ward-Prowse’s inswinging free-kick but it was ruled out for handball after a lengthy Video Assistant Referee (VAR) check.
Nicolo Zaniolo rescued a point for Champions League chasers Villa, scoring in the 79th minute.
Moussa Diaby’s cutback into the box was expertly prodded home by the Italian as he scored his second league goal for Villa.
Michail Antonio had put the Hammers in front after scoring his first Premier League goal since August.
The Jamaica international executed a superb diving header, getting on the end of Vladimir Coufal’s pinpoint delivery in the 29th minute.
Antonio had a second ruled out for handball shortly after the break as he was adjudged to have used his arm to convert Jarrod Bowen’s cross.
David Moyes’ side remain seventh while Villa are three points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham.
Mark Clattenburg has revealed that both VAR decisions at West Ham were correct because the ball touched the arm before going in the goal.
But five minutes is a long time in football. If you are looking at it for a minute, two minutes, and you haven’t made a decision, we need to move on.
PGMOL under Howard Webb have started to suspend people for making mistakes. His predecessor Mike Riley never did that publicly. Webb has, and the VARs now are so scared to make a mistake that they take as much time as they can.
The first decision — for Michail Antonio’s handball — was really difficult without a conclusive angle. The second one at the end, involving Tomas Soucek, should have been easier for the VAR to quickly rule out. Was it handball? Different angles suggested different things. The VAR was trying to find the best angle to give the right decision and that’s why there was such a delay.
Take the incident in Luton v Nottingham Forest, Teden Mengi’s clear handball. We moved on within 30 seconds. So why were we looking at the Soucek one for five minutes? Is the technology at fault or are the officials not being given the right angles? We need answers.