The first half of Arsenal’s win over Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium had three main themes – goalkeeping errors, petulant tackles and Gabriel Martinelli beating his full-back.
Chelsea were struggling to contain Martinelli who returned to start for Arsenal on the right, and the Brazilian was giving Marc Cucurella a bit of a nightmare.
Of course, it was Robert Sanchez who deserved most scrutiny from a Chelsea point of view in the first 45 minutes, a player Enzo Maresca must be continuing to question long-term.
Chelsea failed to impress, but they did still nearly get level when Cucurella fired a volley at David Raya, one that nearly beat the Spaniard who made an uncharacteristic error.
But speaking of errors, Cucurella arguably should have conceded a penalty when Martinelli got the better of him earlier in the half.
Arsenal deserved a first half penalty for Marc Cucurella handball
Arsenal had a strong penalty claim when Jurrien Timber outmuscled Cucurella just inside the box, and the Chelsea man appeared to gesture his arm towards the ball when falling, making contact.
It was a difficult moment for Chris Kavanagh to see, but VAR should have come to his assistance and sent the referee to his screen.
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Cucurella appeared to lose control and slightly panic in the moment when realising that he had been beaten, doing anything to stop Timber’s safe passage through on goal.
Incidentally, VAR did check the incident but decided against overturning the referee’s on-field decision – a moment that many will put down as an error.
Chris Kavanagh made and error but needed help from VAR
That being said, Premier League Match Centre took to X to explain VAR’s view on the incident.
VAR checked and confirmed Cavanagh’s onfield decision and wrote that Cucurella’s arm was deemed to be in an ‘expected position’, presumably concluding that he fell and coincidentally made contact with his arm.
They wrote: “The referee’s call of no penalty for handball by Cucurella was checked and confirmed by VAR – with his arm deemed to be in an expected position with no clear or deliberate action towards the ball.”
It’s not unthinkable that VAR could reach that conclusion by any means – it was a moment that seemed to hinge on the referee’s call.
But Cucurella did seem to move his arm towards the ball, and perhaps VAR should have spent longer analysing the situation.
VAR failed to keep their promise that they first made when the system was introduced in 2019, even if this decision was made pretty quickly.
