Chelsea were left seething in east London in the wake of seeing the ref and VAR rule against granting a late punishment for a handball by Tomas Soucek.
There was late show at the London Arena on Saturday as VAR neglected to grant a late punishment to the guests. Chelsea pursued for a spot-kick after Tomas Soucek seemed to deal with a shot from Conor Callagher however VAR didn’t give the choice after a short check.
Chelsea will feel hard finished in the wake of being denied a late opportunity to dominate the match from the spot. The Blues had opened the scoring, through Joao Felix’s most memorable goal for the club, before previous player Emerson leveled for West Ham.
West Ham thought they’d taken the lead, but VAR pulls back Tomas Soucek’s goal for Declan Rice being offside in the build up ❌ pic.twitter.com/VErTjYF6Ta
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 11, 2023
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The inability to grant the punishment was met by disappointment on the pitch by the Chelsea players. Previous ref Peter Walton told BT Game he felt it was a “reasonable punishment”, while observer Jermaine Jenas was likewise persuaded and said “that is handball” in the wake of watching the replay.
The Blues presently turn their considerations to Europe and make a beeline for Germany for the main leg of their Heroes Association last-16 tie with Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.
Read Also: Joao Felix scored his first goal ever for Chelsea.
