David Moyes questions why Lewis Dunk’s goal wasn’t ruled out by VAR for handball in West Ham draw

West Ham manager left confused by handball ruling after Brighton’ second goal was allowed to stand

Shrivathsa Sridhar
Monday 28 December 2020 12:46 GMT
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Lewis Dunk appeared to make contact with the ball with his arm before scoring to put Brighton 2-1 up
Lewis Dunk appeared to make contact with the ball with his arm before scoring to put Brighton 2-1 up (AP)

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West Ham United manager David Moyes said he wants more clarity from the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system after it allowed a controversial Brighton & Hove Albion goal to stand in Sunday's 2-2 Premier League draw.

Brighton's Lewis Dunk scored in the 70th minute to put the visitors up 2-1 but TV replays showed the ball appeared to hit his arm before he took the shot.

The goal was reviewed by the VAR system, which did not find conclusive evidence to disallow the goal.

"If it didn't hit his arm then that is different, but if it hits his arm and then leads to a goal, which it did, the rules tell me it should be given as handball," Moyes told reporters.

"If I was Lewis Dunk I'd be really disappointed if it was cancelled or not given, but overall if that is the rules we're playing to we need to know why VAR chose not to cancel it."

READ MORE: Premier League table and fixtures in full

Moyes had previously called on the Premier League's more "influential managers" to step up and protest about VAR, which he said had been making some "terrible decisions".

"I don't think anyone is convinced by the answers we are getting ... so we'd like it to come from the people who are making the decisions," Moyes added of Sunday's incident.

"I know I make loads of mistakes so if they're all making mistakes and they said, 'Hey, I got that wrong' then I would accept it. I wouldn't be happy with it, but I'd accept it."

West Ham equalised through Tomas Soucek eight minutes from time to grab a point that left them 10th ahead of Tuesday's trip to Southampton.

Reuters

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