Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett has claimed that Caglar Soyuncu was lucky that Luke Thomas was where he was otherwise he would have been red-carded against Arsenal.
The Gunners appeared to be denied a goal when VAR showed that our headed effort towards goal was blocked by the hand of Soyuncu inside the Leicester six-yard box, which you would have assumed would have been a straight red card and a penalty, but only a yellow was given with the spot kick.
Alexandre Lacazette calmly slotted that away for the 2-0 lead, and that was how the game finished, so there was little reason to complain, but the job could well have become easier had a red been given. Hackett agrees with the on-field decision however, simply because the full-back was behind him in line with the goal.
“Soyuncu was lucky that Thomas was behind him,” Hackett stated to the FootballInsider.
“I’m going with the referee on this one. I am not red carding him.
“If you watch it closely, Thomas is on the cover and clears it off the line. It is for that reason that it’s not a red card. The covering defender saves him. That is the nonsense of it.
“What the referee has to ask himself is, ‘Did that handball deny a goal?’ In this case, it didn’t because the defender kicked it after a slight touch from Soyuncu.
“I thought that was really good use of VAR. Darren England did really well coming in because first time round I did not see that.”
It’s a little debateable to be honest though, as the ball took a clear deflection off the hand, and may not have fallen to Thomas on the line in the way that it did, but I can understand Hackett’s point. With the win in the bag, and us closing in on a top-four finish however there isn’t cause for concern or to distract us with the situation.
Patrick