Gary Neville says he’s ‘CONFUSED’ by Gabriel Martinelli’s disallowed goal for Arsenal against Everton, with VAR claiming Eddie Nketiah was offside in the build-up

• Gary Neville said he was ‘confused’ why Arsenal had a goal ruled out for offside
• The Gunners beat Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park courtesy of Leandro Trossard 
• Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off’

Gary Neville has said he was ‘confused’ about why Arsenal saw a first-half goal against Everton ruled out for offside on Sunday afternoon.

The Gunners thought they had taken the lead in the 19th minute at Goodison Park, when Eddie Nketiah touched the ball to Fabio Vieira who set up Gabriel Martinelli for a curling right-footed finish into the bottom-right of Jordan Pickford’s goal.

But following a VAR check, it was ruled out, as Nketiah was judged to have strayed offside in the build-up phase, before making the pass that led to the goal – although the ball looks to have taken a nick off Everton’s Beto.

On commentary, Neville told Sky Sports: ‘That’s weird. Is there no better angle than that? Even I’m a little confused, he looked like he was well behind.’ 

At half-time, the studio pundits added their opinions on the call. Karen Carney said: ‘I think that’s why everyone’s confused, it’s offside. The rule’s the rule. This is the rule. They’re saying he didn’t mean to do it, so Nketiah is deemed offside.’

Gabriel Martinelli thought he had put Arsenal in front, but it was ruled out due to an offside

Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville said he was ‘confused’ by the decision of the officials

The camera angle’s position also added to the bewilderment concerning the early no-goal

Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink added: ‘I think Beto wants to block the ball, he’s a little bit lucky there. Letter of the law, offside is offside. We all see what he’s trying to do, he’s trying to block the pass. He gets the ball on the shin and that’s why it’s going in that direction.’

Fans on social media were also divided on the incident, with several agreeing with the statement that ‘It’s clear offside’ and ‘miles offside’, while others replied that it ‘came off an Everton player’.

One viewer noted: ‘It has to be a deliberate play of the ball, rebounds from a cross or shot hitting the defender trying to block or intercept it would still count as offside if it was to land in the path of an offside player at the moment the cross/shot happened.’

They added: ‘But this one is such a weird case, with it being so far back and coming from a tackle in the opposing half, probably could do with some extra definition to the rule in such a case’. 

Another found another potential issue, again based on TV footage. ‘The camera angle isn’t great,’ they wrote, ‘but it looks like Mykolenko’s foot would be further back than his shoulder?’  

The first-half at Goodison Park was scoreless. Leandro Trossard, who replaced Martinelli following a 24th-minute injury, scored the game’s only goal with just over 20 minutes remaining to give Arsenal a 1-0 win. 

Fans were arguing about the ‘clear offside’, and how the Everton touch changed matters

One viewer noted that the unusual scenario meant that the offside rule was not clear this time

The television camera angle also added to the confusion over the incident at Goodison Park

More to follow…  

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