Premier League

West Ham United: VAR appears to let major incident go unpunished

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Image for West Ham United: VAR appears to let major incident go unpunished

VAR appeared to let West Ham United off in a major penalty incident involving Kurt Zouma at the weekend.

The Hammers picked up a huge point yesterday in their push for a spot in next season’s Europa League, but it also managed to shake things up massively in the Premier League title race, although it could have been even better had they not relinquished an impressive 2-0 lead.

Should this have been a penalty?

Yes!

Yes!

No!

No!

While West Ham had chances to extend their lead during the game when Man City were seemingly rocking, with the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio missing great opportunities, they could have left the London Stadium feeling lucky after Riyad Mahrez failed to convert from the penalty spot late in the second half.

Despite one penalty being given in favour of Man City, it could have been two if VAR had noticed and decided to punish this kick from Zouma on the back of Gabriel Jesus’ leg which sent him tumbling to the floor.

TIF Thoughts on this incident…

1 of 10

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While it appears obvious that Zouma didn’t go out of his way to kick Jesus’ leg with the ball likely his primary target, the Brazilian striker did get there before the defender so there could have been few complaints had the referee pointed to the spot. And with the scores at 0-0 at the time, it may have altered the final result considerably.

It was therefore a huge call for the officials that West Ham will have been relieved went their way.

West Ham would have only had themselves to blame for not taking full advantage as they had more than enough chances to kill off the game that came and went but given the opposition, Hammers fans will surely be delighted with the point and performance.

In other news: Big West Ham transfer claim emerges live on Sky Sports

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