Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett has revealed why he believes Bournemouth’s second goal against Arsenal was right to stand. Evanilson completed the second-half turnaround at Emirates Stadium in controversial fashion after a Dean Huijsen header cancelled out Declan Rice’s opener.
Mikel Arteta’s side had the chance to all but confirm Champions League football for next season with a victory but the defeat has seen them start looking over their shoulders with Manchester City just three points behind and Newcastle United having the chance to move two away from their tally of 67.
The gap could quite easily have instead been three if Evanilson’s goal was disallowed for handball. Following a flick-on at the front post, the 25-year-old bundled the ball home with many believing it struck his elbow, however VAR did not overturn the decision, as confirmed by the Premier League Match Centre on X.
75’ The referee’s call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with no conclusive evidence that Evanilson handled the ball before scoring,” their post read.
Arteta was asked for his verdict on the controversial decision after the game with the Arsenal boss unsurprisingly not giving too much away.
“I’ve just seen a few images and it looked very different to the decision, but they made that decision,” he said at a press conference. Pushed further on the incident, with a similar moment that went against Arsenal brought up, Arteta replied: “I wasn’t because that happened today but I prefer not to comment on that.
Despite their grievances, Hackett has explained why he thought the officials came to the correct conclusion. “I have studied the various angles on this goal and the involvement of the goal-scorer, Evanilson,” he told Football Insider. It was right that the goal was checked carefully by the VAR, Michael Salisbury.
There is no conclusive evidence that the ball was handed before it went into the goal. The outcome, therefore, was the correct decision.
“It’s pretty ironic that the goal-scorer was wrongly sent off last week and, after an appeal, was allowed to play in this game and scored.” It is unlikely Arsenal will stew on the decision for too long though, as focus will very quickly need to be shifted to their Champions League semi-final second leg away at Paris Saint-Germain.
