Crystal Palace ‘robbed’ vs Tottenham as Sarr’s face offside in wild VAR call | Football | Sport

Some Premier League fans felt Crystal Palace were ‘robbed’ against Tottenham after Ismaila Sarr saw a goal chalked off for the tightest of offsides. The linesman did not raise his flag before Sarr’s deflected effort looped up over Guglielmo Vicario and into the far corner. Yet after a VAR check, Sarr’s opener at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was cancelled out and replays showed Sarr’s forehead was the only part of his body that had strayed beyond the last defender, Micky van de Ven.

The Premier League Match Centre wrote on X: “VAR checked the referee’s call of goal – and established that Sarr was in an offside position and recommended that the goal was disallowed.” But co-commentator and former Spurs goalkeeper Joe Hart said on TNT Sports: “None of it looks right. Is that what we’re going with? His face was offside?” While lead commentator Sam Matterface added: “Oliver Glasner is saying his nose is offside! Talk about by the finest of margins. Offside by a nose.” Hart then joked: “I know a few people who would have been given offside in that situation!”

Sarr did not celebrate after scoring, having seemingly been aware of how tight the call was. But the eventual decision was one of the strangest VAR calls seen in Premier League history.

In a chaotic first half, Spurs took the lead just moments later through Dominic Solanke. But Spurs shot themselves in the foot as Van de Ven was sent off for conceding a penalty with a foul on Sarr. And the winger stepped up to the spot to pull Palace level only six minutes after the hosts had gone 1-0 up.

To rub salt in Igor Tudor’s wounds, Jorgen Strand Larsen put Palace 2-1 up against 10-man Spurs just two minutes into first-half stoppage time. And before the interval, Sarr grabbed his second to effectively kill the game off in the seventh minute of injury time.

Loud boos greeted the half-time whistle while some supporters were even filmed leaving the stadium. Should the north London outfit suffer a fifth successive Premier League defeat, just one point will separate them and West Ham in the relegation zone.

The Hammers have picked up two wins and two draws in their last five, by contrast, to pile the pressure on Spurs. While Nottingham Forest also won a crucial late point away at Manchester City in a 2-2 draw at the Etihad on Wednesday night. Both West Ham and Forest sit on 28 points, while Spurs have just 29 points from 29 games.