Premier League explain disallowed Forest goal as Liverpool get away with one | Football | Sport
Nottingham Forest had a goal ruled out during their Premier League encounter with Liverpool on Saturday afternoon. The visitors thought they had taken a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes of the first half remaining as Igor Jesus turned the ball into the back of the net. But referee Andy Madley ultimately chalked the goal off.
Forest enjoyed a strong start at Anfield and went ahead just after the half-hour mark as centre-back Murillo lashed the ball into the back of the net after the home side had failed to deal with a corner.
And with Liverpool under the cosh, Jesus soon put the ball into the net again after beating Ibrahima Konate to a cross and firing the ball beyond home keeper Alisson.
But the ball deflected between Konate and Jesus in the lead up to the goal, with the referee deeming it to have struck the hand of the Brazilian.
And the Premier League confirmed on X (formerly Twitter): “The referee’s call of no goal was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed that Jesus accidentally handled the ball before scoring.”
The decision to rule out the goal proved controversial, with former Wales defender Ashley Williams explaining on Final Score: “I’m seeing two angles of the goal and on neither angle can I see the where it touches the arm at all. It hits Jesus between the chest and the stomach. That goal should stand.”
Ex-Arsenal centre-back Martin Keown stated: “It looks like the ball came up and hit Jesus on his ribcage. Surely VAR have seen something to chalk it off. I can’t see the hand.”
And after witnessing footage of the incident, former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson said on Radio 5 Live: “You couldn’t see the freeze of where it struck Igor Jesus’ arm, but it looked like it hit him on the sleeve.”
Liverpool have endured a difficult start to the season and had already lost five league matches ahead of their clash with Forest.
And the Merseyside giants did eventually find themselves 2-0 down after Nicolo Savona scored a second goal for Forest just after the interval.
The Italian right-back struck from 10 yards after finding himself in bags of space inside the penalty area and taking advantage of a cut-back from Neco Williams.
Defeat for Liverpool would leave them eight points behind table-toppers Arsenal after playing one more game than the Gunners.
And it would also leave manager Arne Slot under huge pressure, with the Reds struggling to recreate the form they showed under the Dutchman last season when they cruised to the title.
