football.london reviews the big decision by Michael Oliver and his VAR team in the North London Derby as Eberechi Eze’s goal was ruled to have stood despite Leandro Trossard’s offside position.
12:00, 24 Nov 2025Updated 12:02, 24 Nov 2025
Michael Oliver was in the spotlight as Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby
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Michael Oliver was in the spotlight as Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Arsenal enjoyed a dream North London Derby victory over Tottenham as Mikel Arteta’s side put four past Thomas Frank’s defensive setup. The Gunners moved six points clear at the top, seven above Manchester City and 11 above Liverpool.
The build-up to the game with the appointment of Michael Oliver caused some discussion amongst supporters, considering the near-ten-month gap between the referee officiating his last Gunners game, in which he was judged to have wrongly sent off Myles Lewis-Skelly at Wolves. However, the focus turned to the VAR for Eberechi Eze’s first of three goals on the night.
There were not many talking points in the game from a refereeing standpoint, but with a fortnight of controversial and arguably inconsistent applications of the offside rule for interfering with play, Eze’s goal has great relevance. football.london therefore provides it's take on the goal and whether we think it was fair to have stood.
Eberechi Eze first goal
The goal comes from a pass from Declan Rice into Eze in the centre of the box. After some excellent footwork, the player drills a shot which takes a deflection off Van de Ven before Vicario gets a touch that cannot prevent the goal.
Joe Hart on BBC Match of the Day argued this should be offside as Leandro Trossard is in the line of sight of the ball. “I think this is preventing an opponent from being able to clear the ball by obstructing the line of vision as it leaves his foot. Trossard is in Vicario’s line of vision.”
FL review: This, in hindsight, and looking at the image, isn’t true. He might be in the field of vision, but the direct line of sight to the ball is unimpeded, and the Italian can see the ball when it is initially struck.
So much so, he gets a touch on the ball. This is not a goal that should be taken away by the rulebook.
FL verdict: Correct decision, goal should stand.
Eberechi Eze scores against Tottenham for Arsenal in controversial moment
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Eberechi Eze scores against Tottenham for Arsenal in controversial moment(Image: BBC / Match of the Day)
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Michael Oliver discussion
I had posited before the game that this was perhaps not the best game to reintroduce Oliver to Arsenal after a near-ten-month absence. The referee, however, had a very solid game and did exactly what was needed to do so.
Go unnoticed and become effectively invisible. I say effectively because there was one moment in the second half where he quite obviously was in the way of Trossard, who would have wanted to shoot, but somehow found himself competing for space with Oliver on the edge of the box, who had to apologise with raised arms afterwards.
He managed the game well, let the play flow and rarely made any decision which frustrated the crowd. That said, the emphasis was more so on Arsenal taking the game out of the fine margins of officiating decisions unlike at Sunderland two weeks prior.