Leeds United may feel incredibly hard done by having seen an image of a potential handball during their 2-0 defeat on Thursday night against Leicester City.
It was another game to forget for Jesse Marsch’s men who were unable to pull themselves out of the two-goal deficit they found themselves in after the first half.
With 10 games having gone already, Marsch’s side are well within the relegation mix at the moment as they sit slumped in 16th spot of the Premier League table with just two points separating them from the bottom side.
Robin Koch’s own goal kicked off the goals at the King Power Stadium, however, an image to emerge from the game has suggested there may have been a potential handball call in the lead up to the goal.
Jamie Vardy found himself involved in the build up and as he fell to the floor his left hand appeared to brush the ball before the ball was then played out wide for the cross which Koch poked home.
TIF Thoughts on the handball appeal…
There have been a number of incidents in recent times regarding handball, with Michail Antonio and Gianluca Scamacca getting away with handling in the lead up and right before a goal. But, the real issue is consistency as Marcus Rashford had a goal chalked off for something no different to Scamacca’s incident, where he was evading a defender and the ball happened to brush his arm which VAR on that day deemed as an offence and ruled the goal out.
We think there is certainly a case to be had given the way some of the handball decisions have gone already this season with the use of VAR despite the lack of intent in many cases.
Should this have been ruled as handball?
Yes
No
However, it has to be said Vardy does not appear to mean to brush the ball with his hand. And, with the striker not being the player to put the ball in the back of the net, it seems as if the incident has been excused as three other players (including Koch) touched the ball after on its way to Illan Meslier’s net.
The law does actually state that if it’s an incidental handball and the player at fault isn’t the one who scores then it will be allowed to stand. However, with decisions being so consistent in the Premier League, you can understand why fans will feel hard done by in certain instances.