Gary Neville has claimed that West Ham should be ‘furious’ with officials after Chelsea scored a controversial equaliser on Sunday night.
It was the Blues who emerged victorious in the league clash at Stamford Bridge, as Pedro Neto and an Aaron Wan-Bissaka own goal wrapped up all three points.
The Hammers took the lead through Jarrod Bowen and perhaps felt as though it should’ve remained that way after a potential foul leading up to Chelsea’s first goal.
Prior to Neto rifling the ball into the back of the net, Bowen was seemingly fouled by Chelsea defender Levi Colwill – however nothing was given.
VAR had a look at the incident and ruled that there was no foul play, much to the dismay of Graham Potter, his players and the travelling fans.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Neville made his feelings known over the controversial call. He said: ‘I’d be furious if I were West Ham as the referee and assistants should be spotting that.
Gary Neville weighed in on Chelsea’s controversial equaliser against West Ham on Monday
West Ham felt as though Jarrod Bowen (left) was fouled in the lead-up to the goal
Pedro Neto (middle) wheeled away in celebration after drawing Chelsea level on the night
‘I think Levi Colwill fouled Jarrod Bowen, he just stepped across him. It was an obvious foul.’
West Ham boss Potter, similarly, insisted that it was a foul on Bowen in the build-up.
In his post-match interview, he said: ‘You look at the second half. They had to make some substitutions, the first goal was a bit of a turning point and we felt it was a foul, you need those things to go your way.
‘We were doing well but we couldn’t quite hang on and we had a real big chance at the end to take a point’.
There was further controversy over the goal as VAR ruled that Chelsea’s Marc Guiu did not make contact with the ball in the build-up.
In the build-up, the youngster leapt forward to reach a header but, seemingly, just fell short. Instead, the ball ran through to Marc Cucurella who helped create the goal.
A touch from the young striker would have meant that Cucurella was offside, however, after VAR ruled he did not touch it, the goal stood.
A statement from the Premier League read: ‘The referee’s call of goal was checked and confirmed by the VAR as there was no factual evidence that Guiu made contact with the ball in the build-up, therefore there was no offside offence.’
There was further controversy as Marc Guiu (left) was ruled to have not touched the ball – which would have resulted in an offside – in the build-up
Meanwhile, Chelsea have agreed to sign St-Étienne midfielder Mathis Amougou.
The 19-year-old has played for France at Under-18 level and is set to join Chelsea in a deal worth around £12million.
Chelsea have been enquiring over a number of young midfielders over the past week including Sporting Lisbon’s Dario Essugo today.
Many of those enquiries proved fruitless but Amougou is set to become the club’s first signing since the summer.
Amougo was also a member of the France team that came second at the U17 World Cup in 2023, when he won the Bronze Ball award based on his individual performances.
