The PGMOL has released the full audio and transcript from the dramatic final moments of Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over West Ham, sparking a fresh wave of debate over the consistency of VAR.
The footage reveals a tense exchange between referee Chris Kavanagh, VAR Darren England, and Assistant VAR Akil Howson regarding a disallowed 95th-minute equaliser from Callum Wilson.
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VAR audio reveals disagreement over Arsenal vs West Ham disallowed goal
As the officials scrutinised the goal at the monitor, the audio captures AVAR Akil Howson repeatedly raising concerns about Leandro Trossard’s actions toward West Ham’s Pablo Fornals.
While the VAR team initially focused on Pablo Fornals allegedly holding Raya’s arm, Howson pointed to a possible earlier or simultaneous foul by Trossard.
“You’ve got Declan Rice and you’ve got [Leandro] Trossard,” Howson said during the review (transcript via Daily Mail).
Referee Chris Kavanagh responded: “I don’t know what you’re trying to show me, give me a clue.”
After being asked to assess a potential shove by Trossard on Fornals, Kavanagh dismissed the incident, stating: ‘I don’t think there’s much in that at all, I’m happy with that.’
The officials also reviewed a possible foul by Declan Rice on Konstantinos Mavropanos, but the focus remained on the goalkeeper challenge. Kavanagh ultimately concluded: ‘But the foul happens on the goalkeeper before.’
Howard Webb defends referee decision in Arsenal vs West Ham incident
The officials came under fire after the game, with ‘West Ham boss claiming that even the referees don’t know what’s a foul‘.
But PGMOL chief Howard Webb defended the process on Match Officials Mic’d Up, insisting the clear and obvious error was the hold on Raya’s arm.
He said: “Is it a foul on the goalkeeper? Categorically, yes.
“We’ve said all season, including in pre-season briefings with the players, that if a goalkeeper is impeded by an opponent grabbing or holding their arms and therefore they can’t do their job, they’ll be penalised.
“We’re not just talking about contact with goalkeepers, we’re talking about a specific type of contact when the goalkeeper’s arms or hands are being interfered with, stopping them doing their job.
“A key player in this moment, of course, is the goalkeeper, who has got a unique ability to use his hands. And in what we see in this situation, different to the other situations around the penalty area is that the goalkeeper can’t do that job because of that very clear action by the attacker, preventing him from putting his arm up.
“He is being held as well from behind by [Jean-Clair] Todibo. There are other pieces of contact from other players, from Arsenal players too, but the most significant contact undoubtedly is that on the goalkeeper.
Stops him from doing something pretty routine of catching the ball. The arm’s across the neck, it’s on his arm. He can’t put his arms up, and we’ve said that we’ll penalise that. And we’ve been consistent in that particular aspect.”
While Webb praised the officials for their process, the leaked audio suggests a division within the VAR room, with Howson’s warnings about Trossard’s shove ultimately being dismissed by the man in the middle.
Arsenal responsible for West ham being relegated? GREAT Thats ignoring the other34 games they’ve played this season. They have been poor. Owned by porn kings….
Schmicheal should read this. It’s very clear. The referee saved football
So Kavanaugh looked at ALL the relevant incidents before coming to the correct conclusion.
I suppose every decision is “controversial” if you don’t like it.
Every one with a treble figure IQ, knows that had the goal keeper not been fouled he would have caught the ball and the ball would not have travelled any further. So it doesn’t matter who was fouled behind the goal keeper because they would have been nowhere near the ball after Raya catching the ball. The goal keeper was considered the first foul commited due to being nearest to the flight of the ball. First foul offence takes priority according to the rules. First foul offence was on Raya being nearest and first to the ball. End of.
This exact foul with both the goal keepers arms being held has only been duplicated once in two years that exact way. Arsenal fouled the goal keeper that way two years ago, and Arsenals goal was disallowed by the VAR and referee and Arsenal lost the decision.
So for that same type of foul, Arsenal have never one the decision when they did the fouling.
Westham, if they go down, it would be due to all the games this season where they have repeatedly been poor and dropped points. They shouldn’t be relying on one VAR decision to keep them up. It just smells of respiration.
A draw would have done neither team any good, anyway.
As an Arsenal fan, I hope Westham stay up and Spurs go down.
Pablo Fornals? Hasn’t played for West Ham for a good couple of years..