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Handball was given to William Saliba during Arsenal’s draw against Chelsea
The decision was widely derided afterwards and now Andy Murray had his say
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Former world number 1 Andy Murray found himself in the handball court during Arsenal’s 2-2 draw against Chelsea on Saturday.
The London derby at Stamford Bridge was embroiled in controversy when at 0-0 it was ruled that Arsenal centre-back William Saliba had handled the ball deliberately.
Mykhailo Mudryk headed a header towards goal when the ball hit Saliba’s arm.
The action continued before VAR intervened and Chelsea were awarded a penalty, which Cole Palmer scored to make it 1–0.
Tennis star Murray, a self-confessed Arsenal fan, was left scratching his head with the decision.
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“If you watch a replay and just look at the mudryk arms when he jumps, they are doing the exact same motion as Saliba… both completely natural jumping positions,” he posted on X, in response to an image of the incident.
It was a VAR decision that was widely panned, with the likes of Gary Neville and Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker voicing their criticism.
Neville, commentating on the match for Sky Sports, said: ‘It hits William Saliba’s arm, there’s no doubt about that. I think he could get into a bit of trouble here.
‘Going back to the Everton game earlier (against Liverpool), I would say this is going to be given.
‘It’s all about whether Saliba’s arm is there because he’s trying to win the ball – it’s certainly above, out and away from his body. Is he just using that arm as leverage or to gain an advantage? The fact is, it doesn’t matter.
“None of us know exactly what a penalty is yet, but that’s consistent with what we saw in the Merseyside derby today.”
Lineker was also baffled by the call, posting on X: ‘The handball law is completely ridiculous.’
Even former Chelsea captain John Terry had to accept that punishing Saliba was the wrong decision.
“Glad we got the punishment, but I don’t agree with the rules on this,” he wrote on X.
‘Very hard on defenders. I would have been furious if that was said to me at the time.’
Arsenal were undeterred and despite trailing 2-0, with David Raya misjudging Mudryk’s cross, they came back to take what could prove to be a very important point.
Declan Rice got them back into the match by capitalizing on a Chelsea mistake, before Leandro Trossard scored from close range to level the score at 2-2.