During Aston Villa’s embarrassing 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace, VAR ruled a handball against Lucas Digne which gave a penalty to the South London outfit and has since been questioned for its validity with replay.
Despite starting well and going a goal up in the first five minutes thanks to a goal from star striker Ollie Watkins, the Villans failed to secure the win and due to their poor defending, need up losing the game 3-1.
Wilfried Zaha picked up a brace during the game, with his first goal coming on the break in the seventh minute before he slotted home a rebounded penalty after Digne was penalised for handling the ball, which has been questioned in the wake of the final whistle.
In the video, below, the ball hit Digne on his raised arm as he jumped to challenge Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi in the box, which resulted in Guehi nodding the ball onto the Frenchman’s arm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbSnlBW6rsI
TIF Thoughts on the handball…
There is no doubt that giving a penalty for the handball was harsh, while Digne had his arm raised, he was jumping to challenge Guehi, and raising your arm to jump is a natural movement, it would have been almost impossible for Digne to challenge without raising his arms.
This was something that left Gabby Agbonlahor fuming on talkSPORT as he shared the opinion that it’s impossible to jump without using your arms.
However, the goals did not end up being decisive as Palace picked up a third thanks to the tremendous effort of Jean-Phillipe Mateta, who came on just minutes before he bagged the nail in the coffin goal.
It is understandable from the angle shown in the video that the decision was harsh, it is almost impossible for Digne to challenge in any other way. Villa must dust themselves off and get ready for their next game, which is now a must-win for Steven Gerrard.
Was it a penalty?
Yes
No
