Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday in a very important Premier League game, as the Blues got a lot of bad calls from the referee. During corner kicks, referee Darren England and VAR official John Brooks missed what looked like clear fouls in the Arsenal penalty box.
During a corner kick in the first half, Declan Rice raised his elbow, and the ball hit his outstretched arm while he was had his arms wrapped around Jorrel Hato. Gabriel Magalhaes was seen physically holding back Joao Pedro in another corner, wrapping his arms around the Chelsea forward to stop him from attacking the delivery. There were no penalties for either incident, and VAR didn’t step in either time.
The argument didn’t stop there. Arsenal also got away with one early in the second half when David Raya hit Joao Pedro in the head while clearing a corner, but the referees didn’t see anything wrong.
Joao Pedro, a 24-year-old Brazilian striker for Chelsea, has been one of the Blues’ best players this season, scoring 11 goals and setting up four others in 27 Premier League games. His physical fights with Gabriel were a big part of the match, and he almost scored when he was completely open three yards out, but his header wasn’t strong enough and Raya saved it.
Arsenal went ahead when William Saliba headed in a corner kick from Bukayo Saka. Chelsea tied the game just before halftime when Piero Hincapie accidentally headed the ball past his own goalkeeper from Reece James’ corner. After Pedro Neto was sent off for a second bookable offence, Jurrien Timber scored to make it 2-1.
PGMOL Explains The Controversial Handball Call On Rice After Chelsea’s Penalty Was Denied
The Premier League’s referees didn’t waste any time dealing with the backlash. The Match Centre account on X said that VAR confirmed the call of no penalty. They said that there was no handball offence because Rice was trying to stop an opponent when the ball hit his arm.
The explanation has done little to calm the anger, with many saying that the grappling alone should have been a foul, regardless of the handball. Arsenal are still in first place in the Premier League while Chelsea are in second place, trying to qualify for the Champions League.