Everton were able to put three points on the board over the weekend in their away trip to Fulham.
David Moyes will not have been pleased with the first half he saw from his players as the Blues were fortunate to go into the break level.
Marco Silva said Fulham were better than Everton on Saturday as the better side lost on the afternoon in west London.
The second half probably would disagree with that as Everton put the Cottagers to the sword with a clinical spell in front of goal.
Everton fans loved Carlos Alcaraz’s performance and there were more to applaud with Vitaliy Mykolenko scoring his first goal of the season.
But the Ukraine international was also involved in late VAR drama which has now been clarified by Howard Webb.
Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
What Howard Webb said about VAR decision in Fulham vs Everton
Referee Darren England was sent to the monitor to review a handball claim on Mykolenko in the dying minutes of the game.
Mark Clattenburg applauded England for sticking with his decision of no penalty despite being urged to consider his decision by VAR.
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Speaking to the Premier League, Webb has now shared his own stance on England’s decision at Craven Cottage.
“The VAR in this situation felt this was a handball offence otherwise he wouldn’t have sent the referee to the screen. He felt the arm was extended away from the body in a way that was unnatural and not justifiable. The referee always reserves the right to keep their decision,” he said.
Howard Webb explains the following decisions on Match Officials Mic'd Up with Michael Owen:
⊙ Fulham's penalty appeal v Everton
⊙ Jackson's red card v Newcastle
⊙ Evanilson's red card v Man Utd
⊙ Enciso's penalty foul v Newcastle
⊙ Newcastle's overturned penalty v Brighton
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“We think in this situation, this was one of those occasions where the VAR has seen a little bit too much in terms of his judgment of the arm being away from the body.
“We think Mykolenko’s arm is moving very naturally here as he closes down Traore, the arm actually comes down to make himself even smaller as opposed to bigger and it’s from a very short distance. He has no chance to form an opinion to make a deliberate handball so we think it was correct not to give a penalty.”
Everton saw a penalty overturned against Manchester United following the referee consulting the monitor earlier in the year.
So, it was a real shock to see England actually stick with his own decision after listening to the VAR in his earpiece.
And it was apparent Moyes enjoyed what he saw from the referee.
David Moyes applauded Darren England’s VAR decision
When the referee is sent to the monitor it usually only means one thing.
Therefore, when England stuck with his initial decision, it would be fair to say a lot of people inside the stadium were stunned.
One of those was certainly Moyes who was stood on the sidelines applauding the referee for his decision to stick with no penalty.
Speaking to the media after the game, Moyes shared his delight with the referee’s decision.
“I clapped him. I would have had a Mexican wave. I saw it on the iPad and I saw the boy was running so I don’t know where you’d expect his hands to be,” Moyes said.
“Isn’t it great we have someone who is willing to go to the screen and stick with his decision? We want referees to go by their own decision, and from what I’ve seen the correct decision.”