The Premier League have explained their decision to disallow Everton’s equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Spurs captain Micky van de Ven headed his side in front from a corner kick on 19 minutes, but the Blues looked to have restored parity in similar fashion just five minutes later as Jake O’Brien nodded past Guglielmo Vicario in the visitors' net.
However, the decision was reviewed by VAR, although Stuart Attwell at Stockley Park did not make the call himself and invited on-field referee Craig Pawson to consult the pitchside monitor for the first time at the Blues’ new 52,769-capacity home on the Mersey waterfront.
After watching the footage, the South Yorkshire official deemed that both Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish were standing in an offside position and putting off the opposition goalkeeper.
The Premier League Match Centre account on X (formerly Twitter) read as follows: “After VAR review, the referee overturned the original decision of goal to Everton. Referee announcement: ‘After review, Everton 10 and 18 were in an offside position, interfering with the goalkeeper. The final decision is an in-direct free kick in the six yard box.’”
Speaking on commentary at the time, Gary Neville said: "I don't think the VAR officials are sure themselves. It's a 50/50 this one.
"From the VAR we were hearing, they're having a right good look at it. There's a little bit of contact and it'll be overturned, I'm sure.
"It's not gone down well. You could almost see the fear in the referee's eyes! I don't think he's ever going to save it, but it's a 50/50 one."
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