Arsenal vs Brentford: Why Ivan Toney’s Equaliser Was Allowed to Stand Despite Offside Calls

Arsenal vs Brentford: Why Ivan Toney’s Equaliser Was Allowed to Stand Despite Offside Calls

Fred Kennedy
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:25 PM
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  • Ivan Toney was Brenftord's match hero during their Premier League trip to the Emirates Stadium
  • The Brentford ace was on target for the Bees to cancel out Leandro Trossard's opener
  • However, it has now emerged that Toney's equaliser should not have stood as it was scored from an offside position

Arsenal vs Brentford Premier League cracker was marked with a controversial refereeing decision which denied the Gunners all the three points.

Fresh from their 1-0 damaging defeat against Everton, Arsenal were desperate to secure a confidence-boosting result when they hosted the Bees at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

The hosts struggled to find a breakthrough in the opening exchanges of the clash before the introduction of Leandro Trossard made the difference in the second half.

Brentford, Ivan Toney, Arsenal, Premier League, Emirates Stadium.
Brentford's Ivan Toney heads the ball during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Brentford FC at Emirates Stadium. Photo by Stephanie Meek.
Source: Getty Images

Trossard made an immediate impact after he came on, scoring his side's opener with a fine finish from Bukayo Saka's cross.

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However, his goal was cancelled shortly after, with Ivan Toney controversially drawing Brentford level.

According to Metro UK, VAR official Lee Mason compounded the error involving Toney's equaliser by greenlighting it as he forgot to check if Norgaard had strayed beyond Ben White, Arsenal’s last man, as he laid the ball into the path of Toney to score.

Why Toney's goal stood

Toney's goal sparked protestation from the Arsenal camp, with Mikel Arteta insisting it should have been disallowed for offside.

Referee expert and PGMOL representative Chris Foy, who was in the Match Centre at Stockley Park on Saturday, has also appeared to agree with Arteta.

In his account, Brentford's equaliser should not have stood as it was scored from an offside position.

According to Foy, VAR forgot to draw offside lines to determine the validity of the goal.

"In the build-up to the goal, Christian Norgaard — whose cross it is that Toney heads in — is in an offside position," Foy told Sunday Mail.
"However, the truth is that VAR didn’t fully investigate with the lines. The lines, simply, didn’t go down. And that counts as human error," he added.

Arsenal backed for EPL glory

Earlier, Sports Brief reported Brentford boss Thomas Frank has made a bold Premier League title prediction after Arsenal dropped points against the Bees at the Emirates Stadium.

Having suffered a 1-0 shock defeat against Everton in their previous outing, the Gunners were desperate to get their title bid back on track when they hosted Brentford on Saturday.

However, Mikel Arteta's charges went on to drop points once again, with a resilient Brentford side holding them to a 1-1 draw.

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Fred Kennedy
Editor - Europe Team
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