- Alex Moreno’s opening goal was disallowed after a four-minute VAR check
- Leon Bailey was ruled offside in the build-up to the left-back’s stunning strike
- Would Tottenham be clear at the top of the league if they hadn’t lost some of their best players to injury? It’s All Kicking Off
Alex Moreno had a fantastic goal disallowed after an almost four-minute VAR check which drew anti-VAR chants from both Everton and Aston Villa.
The Villa left-back scored from outside the box 18 minutes into the match to give his side a 1-0 lead.
However, his goal was ruled out as Leon Bailey was deemed marginally offside in the build-up after an three-minute, 45-second VAR check.
Everton had dawdled while play was live as they sensed that Bailey was offside and anticipated that the flag would go up after the attack had run its course.
Villa capitalised and played until the whistle but their joys were duly crushed minutes later when VAR confirmed what Villa had suspected.
Alex Moreno thought he had opened the scoring for Aston Villa against Everton – but a four-minute VAR check denied his joy
Bailey had played a short corner to Douglas Luiz, who moved the ball on to John McGinn, who played it back to Bailey.
Bailey was just offside when he received the ball and chipped it across to the unmarked Moreno on the edge of the area, who rifled the ball home.
Everton players instantly approached referee David Coote to protest.
Villa fans felt aggrieved that nothing had been given for Arnaut Danjuma’s allegeed pull on Clement Lenglet in the box.
For some, Danjuma appeared to drag Lenglet away from goal in the box before falling over as Villa played the ball around following the corner.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp said at half-time that he thought Lenglet was fouling Danjuma and that the VAR check should have picked up on the tussle and ended quickly.
Leon Bailey’s left-foot was trailing beyond Arnaut Danjuma in the image showed by Sky Sports
Jamie Redknapp felt that the tussle between Danjuma and Clement Lenglet should have been the main focus of the VAR check
He said: ‘It’s three minutes 45 [seconds] we’ll never get back. This could have been done so swiftly. That is a foul. Why on earth are they not looking at that? That is the foul, whether he’s offside is almost irrelevant.
‘It was so long, it was so painful. Just get on with the game. It is offside as well.’
Moreno still looked annoyed at half-time as the teams went back inside with the score 0-0.
It is the latest VAR controversy and isn’t the first to strike this weekend.
Burnley boss Vincent Kompany was livid after a VAR check deemed Carlton Morris had not fouled his goalkeeper James Trafford as he netted a 92nd-minute equaliser.
He said: ‘I’m just thinking: look at what happened to us (with decisions) at Aston Villa away. Bournemouth away. Nottingham Forest away. What are we doing? It’s a joke. A joke.
‘How many times is it going to keep happening? Remember when the Tottenham-Liverpool incident happened? That dragged on for weeks. Look at the reality of our situation and it doesn’t drag on for weeks. We have to speak up.
‘He’s looked at the goalkeeper, backs into him, looks at the referee to see if he gets away with it, and none of the Luton players celebrate. It might be a good thing to have a few days off. I want to fight for this sport. The referee is missing something we all see comes from a general confusion.’
