Arsenal 2-2 Crystal Palace: 3 reasons why the Gunners only managed a draw | Premier League 2019/20

#1 The agony and the ecstasy of VAR

Arsenal was sensationally denied a goal by VAR

Ever since the start of the season, not many facets of Premier League football have had as many eyes trained on them as VAR, which is quite funny considering it isn’t even something that can be influenced directly by players.

On Sunday, the system showcased the two edges to its sword with Arsenal getting scythed on both occasions.

Early in the game, Wilfried Zaha went over Chambers’ challenge in the box. Initially, the referee waived away the penalty appeals and instead showed the Ivorian with a yellow card. However, on further inspection, VAR found the English defender culpable of dangling out an unnecessary leg, meaning that he had made sufficient contact with Zaha. Thus, in light of the awarding of the penalty, technology had solved the problems it was meant to.

A little later though, all that went out of the window when VAR ludicrously ruled out Arsenal’s potential winner.

After a melee in the box, the ball fell to Sokratis, who lashed his shot beyond the outstretched arms of Hennessey. However, a second earlier, Chambers had been tackled to the ground, thereby creating a scramble wherein the defenders and the attackers were involved in niggly attempts at winning possession.

Somehow though, VAR thought that there existed enough evidence to overturn Martin Atkinson’s original call, despite their seeming to be awful little in the challenge.

More absurdly, the referee decided to trust a set of officials sitting miles away with such a crucial decision, even though he boasted the luxury of walking towards the screen on the touch-line and deciding for himself.

And, moving forward, that could be something the Premier League could look at, especially with the referee on the pitch being in a better position to come to a conclusion.

Hence, through the course of the game, the two sides of the VAR coin had been laid bare for everyone to witness. While it worked a treat in the first instance, its shortcomings reared its ugly head for the second circumstance.

As for the TV monitor just beyond the pitch, maybe referees could use it a touch more. After all, that screen has seen just a little less action than Mesut Ozil so far this season.