Crystal Palace came from behind to draw with Leicester City on Saturday but there is VAR controversy.
Despite being the better side in the 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace find themselves now without a Premier League win four games into the campaign, with a trip to Manchester United on Saturday.
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LeicesterLeicester
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The game saw Eddie Nketiah make his debut after joining from Arsenal in a £25m swoop, and he impressed despite there clearly being a flaw in the way he was deployed.
Jean-Philippe Mateta bagged a brace in the game as Crystal Palace welcomed Jordan Ayew back after his summer exit to Leicester – one of Mateta’s goals came from the spot.
However, in the game, there was some real controversy around one of Mateta’s goals with offside claims, now Leicester are set to appeal.
Leicester to appeal VAR decision for Jean-Philippe Mateta goal
Mateta scored early in the second half against Leicester – with the Eagles trailing 2-0 at that stage, the goal was initially ruled out for offside before VAR overruled this and granted the goal.
It was the goal which sparked a comeback as Crystal Palace equalised in added time securing a vital point for the Eagles, but it was a very close offside call which led to the Premier League explaining the decision on the match centre X account.
The images provided by the Premier League make a compelling case for the goal to be given onside, with another angle posted from a wider angle showing that James Justin seemed to have kept the Frenchman onside.
But according to Mail Sport, Leicester have refused to let this go and are unconvinced that the images used deem Mateta onside from the moment the ball was played, rather than show him onside a fraction of a second after the cross was put in. In the current offside technology, there is a five-centimetre margin of error built in.
No images presented give a clear view of the decision, which is a crazy fact considering the amount of cameras and technology in the Premier League stadiums.
Decisions like this will not be debatable for long with semi-automated offsides being implemented from October onwards.
Fine margins keeping Crystal Palace from an emergency situation
Oliver Glasner raised expectations and ambitions instantly at Crystal Palace with the form we got to see last season with a long winning run.
Due to this, European qualification was targeted by the Eagles, but this increased ambition could end up being Glasner’s enemy as this season has started off rough.
Two defeats and two draws are not the start that many expected from Crystal Palace this season and after seeing these images, it’s concerning that such fine margins have kept the Eagles from losing three out of four.
This simply is not good enough and Crystal Palace must do more to secure a win with a tricky trip to Old Trafford coming up – a crisis and concern over relegation might not be far away.
There is lots of work for Glasner to do this season otherwise this could end up being a very long campaign.
