Gary Neville shares instant reaction after controversial West Ham opener against Arsenal

Arsenal found themselves a goal down against West Ham United 13 minutes into their game at Emirates Stadium on Thursday night in controversial circumstances.

Tomas Soucek put the Hammers ahead after some underwhelming defending from the Gunners, but there were questions over whether the ball from Jarrod Bowen’s cross was still in play in the build-up to the goal.

Referee Michael Oliver consulted with the VAR but the goal was given on-field as there was no conclusive proof the ball was out of play.

The officials decided to stick with the on-field decision as VAR could not determine if the whole ball was out of play.

Arsenal will hope the goal does not end up proving costly as they look to fight their way back, and their fans were left fuming after a similar incident led to their first Premier League defeat of 2023-24 against Newcastle United last month.

The ball appeared to have gone out of play shortly before the cross that led to the only goal of the game at St. James’ Park, but replay showed that it was still in play, with Gary Neville running a detailed analysis on Sky Sports afterwards.

Arsenal fans mocked the pundit at the time, and he took to social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) to react after the controversial West Ham goal was awarded.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🙂 https://t.co/1pKTPP0NOT

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) December 28, 2023

🧐 pic.twitter.com/TPSSGZn4b0

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) December 28, 2023

Agreed but great at goal line technology 👍🏻 https://t.co/mza2rTZb6Z

— Gary Neville (@GNev2) December 28, 2023

The goal will be reviewed after the game, and PGMOL will be praying they have not made another costly mistake.

Arsenal need major decisions in their favour if they are to win the Premier League title this term, but they have not been lucky with the officiating so far.

There was no bird’s eye view to help VAR out against West Ham, which is simply not good enough given how crucial such a decision could be in the title race.