– Here VAR fails again – NRK Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule

Arsenal were on fire from the start at home against Bournemouth in the Premier League.

After 25 minutes, the home team had 12 finishes, but without scoring.

Just before half-time, the home team were still to break through. Kai Havertz was played through by Martin Ødegaard. According to the referee, Havertz was fouled by Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers and Arsenal received a penalty.

Bukayo Saka was ice cold from the penalty spot and sent Arsenal into the lead with his 16th league goal of the season.

However, not everyone agreed that Arsenal should have received a penalty.

– It is not a penalty, and here VAR fails again. I can understand that referees, from their angle, live and at full speed, award penalties, but here he has to get help from VAR and get to see it again, says NRK’s ​​football expert Kristoffer Løkberg.

He believes it is obvious what Havertz is trying to do.

– He seeks out the situation, leaves his foot, and falls even before the contact is there, says Løkberg further.

– Did they let that punishment stand? It is actually unbelievable, writes football commentator Kasper Wikestad on X.

In England too, there were many reactions to referee David Coote’s choice to point to the penalty mark.

– I don’t think it’s a penalty. Havertz drags his leg along the ground, but it will not be overturned by VAR, says former Premier League referee Mike Dean to Sky Sports.

– Instead of giving such penalties, this should be a yellow card for Havertz, if you really want to remove filming from football, writes the former English national team player Stan Collymore on X.

New controversial scoring

After 11 minutes, Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka was tackled badly by Ryan Christie, without the referee awarding a free kick. However, the case was left after the tackle.

– It is a dangerous game. There is no doubt about it. He is very lucky if he escapes a yellow or red card there. It is ugly. Quite ugly, said Viaplay’s expert commentator Lars Tjærnås about Christie’s tackle.

Saka recovered, and Arsenal continued the pressure on the Bournemouth goal.

Also after Saka’s penalty, Arsenal created the biggest chances.

Belgian Leandro Trossard doubled the lead for the home team after 70 minutes. Arsenal won the ball high up the pitch and went on the attack quickly. The ball ended up with Declan Rice, who rolled the ball on to Trossard. He made no mistake and easily placed the ball past Travers.

In contrast to the first 45 minutes, the visitors were more involved after the break. Soon after Trossard’s goal, Christie thought he had reduced it for Bournemouth.

But the goal was disallowed by the referee for a tackle on goalkeeper David Raya just before Christie’s shot.

Not everyone agreed with the judge this time either.

– This is much worse than the penalty situation. This is goalkeeper protection on anabolic steroids, and it is not legal. That Raya gets a free kick here when Solanke does as little as he does, goes a bit against the nature of football, says football commentator Petter Veland in Viaplay’s studio.

– Totally crazy to judge a free kick there. Do goalkeepers have their own rules? Absolutely incredibly cheap, says Løkberg.

Gabriel Magalhães scored a dream goal and looked to have put Arsenal 3-0 up after a set piece just before the end, but this goal was also disallowed. This time for an offside up front.

Declan Rice then extended the lead to 3-0 in stoppage time to ensure a comfortable victory for Arsenal. That with a little help from the referee, we are to believe former Arsenal player Ian Wright:

– I don’t think it was a penalty and Bournemouth’s scoring should have stood. Job done and three points, writes Ian Wright at X.

– Learned a lot since last year

Martin Ødegaard played another good game for the home team, and is in a very good period.

Arsenal now lead the table with two games left to play. They are four points ahead of Manchester City, but in return have played two more games than the light blues from Manchester.

Ødegaard must therefore hope that City concede points, so that the dream of lifting the Premier League trophy will come true.

Before the match, Ødegaard assured the club’s website that last year’s second place and intense title race gave them valuable experience.

– We have learned a lot since last year: What it means to be here, how to handle the situation and all the matches. We have made great progress since last season. The only thing we can do now is to continue in the same way, says Ødegaard.