VAR controversy: Offside or not? Manchester City and Arsenal goal incidents in the spotlight

You could not make it up, really. Just 24 hours after Manchester City had a goal controversially ruled out through VAR, Arsenal saw theirs stand.

Two EFL Cup semi-finals, two pretty similar offside situations, two different outcomes.

Supporters crave consistency, so it is understandable that questions are being asked.

How can the video assistant referee system chalk off a goal in one instance but allow it to stand in the other?

When Manchester City‘s Antoine Semenyo thought he had scored a second goal in Tuesday’s 2-0 win at Newcastle United, no-one seemed to have a clue there was anything untoward.

Then the VAR, Stuart Attwell, told referee Chris Kavanagh that an offside Erling Haaland was having an impact on Malick Thiaw’s defending as the ball went past en route to goal.

Fast forward to Wednesday and Ben White’s goal in Arsenal‘s 3-2 victory at Chelsea. The ball had evaded an offside Viktor Gyokeres, who was jostling with Chelsea‘s Marc Guiu. The VAR stayed out of it.

Giving offside against Haaland is technically correct in law but it is a VAR over-reach. It is not the kind of intervention we have come to see in the Premier League, so by extension the same would be expected for the Carabao Cup.

The goal incidents were comparable but not the same. Haaland was effectively protecting the path of the ball and could be considered to have been stopping Thiaw from getting to it.

Guiu, however, had his back to the play when White headed the ball and was not looking at the ball. It is harder to say the Chelsea player was in a position to stop the goal.