Arsenal’s opening goal in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur has sparked a debate over the offside rule, with former officials Howard Webb and Graham Poll backing the call to allow it to stand and ex-referees’ chief Keith Hackett saying it should have been disallowed.
Arsenal took the lead when Spurs’ Kevin Wimmer headed into his own net, but Alexis Sanchez was standing ahead of the final defender when Mesut Ozil took the free kick.
The offside rule stipulates that it is an offence for a player to stand ahead of the second-last opponent when the ball is played if they become active by: touching the ball; preventing an opponent playing the ball by obstructing their vision; challenging for the ball; clearly attempting to play the ball; or making an obvious action that clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball.
Former Premier League and international referee Webb said Sanchez had not committed an offence according to the current guidelines, so Mark Clattenburg and his assistant were right to allow the goal to stand.
“The way that the law is written means Alexis Sanchez did not commit any offside offence when Arsenal took the lead through Kevin Wimmer’s own goal, even though he is in an offside position when the ball is played in by Mesut Ozil,” Webb wrote in The Times.
“Sanchez doesn’t make any sort of action that impacts upon Wimmer’s ability to play the ball. The only person who maybe does that is Laurent Koscielny but the Arsenal defender is level — he’s not offside because Eric Dier, the Tottenham midfielder, is just behind him and is playing him onside.
“The players who are offside (Sanchez and Shkodran Mustafi) don’t go for the ball, they just keep moving forward. I know why Wimmer has headed the ball — because he doesn’t want it to go through to the players behind him. It affects what the defender does but the actions of the attackers in the offside positions in this situation are not covered in the law.”
Another former referee, Graham Poll, said in his Daily Mail column: “Kevin Wimmer, under pressure from Laurent Koscielny, headed the ball into his own net but, as Koscielny was not one of those offside, the goal was rightly allowed to stand.”
Webb said he hoped the International Football Association Board would address the issue, saying: “I think the law needs clarifying and changing.
“This was a situation that I think, morally, should be offside but actually, as written, I don’t think there’s one assistant in the Premier League who will give that offside.”
However, Hackett, the former general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, said in his Daily Telegraph column that the goal should have been ruled out.
“Alexis Sanchez was clearly offside and interfering with an opponent and in my opinion it should have been disallowed,” Hackett wrote. “Sanchez has made movement towards the ball sufficiently enough to unsettle Kevin Wimmer and, as a result, he’s almost forced the defender to play the ball from Mesut Ozil’s free kick. That movement towards the ball has put Sanchez in an offside position.”
He added: “You will get a lot of debate on this because I believe the law is ambiguous. It is not a good law and it still needs further work to make life easier for all the stakeholders in the game.”
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was critical of Clattenburg after the game, arguing that Spurs midfielder Victor Wanyama should have been sent off.
He also said Spurs were fortunate to be awarded a penalty for Laurent Koscielny’s challenge on Mousa Dembele, telling Sky Sports: “Contact is not a penalty. A foul is a penalty. For me it is a soft penalty, a very soft one, but I haven’t seen it again.”
Hackett, though, said Clattenburg “had a fantastic game” and that his penalty decision was “spot on,” adding: “There was clear contact from Laurent Koscielny on Mousa Dembele and it was a good decision at a critical time in the game.”
Poll said Clattenburg got all the key decisions correct, rejecting Wenger’s suggestion that Wanyama had deliberately elbowed Theo Walcott and backing his call on the penalty.
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