West Ham United came from a goal down following Ryan Babel’s third-minute opener to secure a 3-1 victory over Fulham on Friday night, grabbing their 10th league win of the campaign as a result.
The Hammers, currently ninth in the table are very much still in the race to finish as best of the rest, with just three points between them and seventh-placed Watford.
The victory over the Cottagers came handy as it was their first in five league games following two losses and two draws, but the result might have been different with VAR in place given Javier Hernandez’s controversial equalizer.
The Mexican clearly scored with his hand, but referee Lee Mason and his assistants couldn’t see it, and there was no video playback to help them.
West Ham wrapped victory up with goals from Issa Diop and Michail Antonio, but former Premier League ref Mark Halsey believes Chicharito’s “hand of God” goal shouldn’t have stood in the first place.
“It’s a clear handball and Hernandez has deceived the referee. You only have to look at the way Hernandez looks at the referee Lee Mason after the ball goes in,” Halsey told Sunsport.
“He knew what he had done and then he had the audacity to celebrate!
“But he won’t face retrospective action as that is only used for simulation. It was difficult for Lee to see through the bodies and he would have hoped to get help off an assistant.”
@RefereeHalsey gives his view on Javier Hernandez’s equaliser for West Ham against Fulham last night… pic.twitter.com/rCLYXds0hq
— Phil Cadden (@pjcadden) February 23, 2019
Fulham’s survival chances were dealt a huge blow after suffering their 18th loss of the campaign at the London Stadium, but manager Claudio Ranieri and his men could have done with some help through the intervention of the VAR – which would have rightly chalked off West Ham’s equalizer.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
