Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has indicated that VAR should not be criticised for controversially awarding West Ham United two goals against Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
Despite falling behind to an early Andreas Pereira strike, the Hammers hit back to prevail by a 3-1 scoreline courtesy of goals from Jarrod Bowen, Gianluca Scamacca and Michail Antonio.
However, the latter two efforts were overshadowed by handball decisions, each of Scamacca and Antonio appearing to touch the ball with their hands before going on to find the back of the net.
Scamacca did not celebrate when lobbing Bernd Leno to put West Ham into the lead, only for a lengthy VAR check to deem that there was not enough evidence to overturn the decision despite the ball changing direction upon impact.
When assessing both incidents on Sky Sports, Gallagher felt that a handball should have been given, although claimed that it was not an easy decision to be made by the official overseeing the incident.
Gallagher said: "I actually think that it has touched his hand but what I would say in fairness to the VAR, he's studied it, studied it, studied it, studied it for two minutes 40 seconds, checked every single angle, and he came to the conclusion that he wasn't convinced that it struck the hand.
"If he's not convinced, he cannot give it. I think many people say that it struck his hand. I actually think it struck his hand because the ball travels down."
"It was a difficult call for the VAR. He studied it, studied it, studied it. He didn't just look at it and go 'I'm going to throw it away'. No-one can criticise him for not being diligent."
As for Antonio's goal, he handled the ball when attempting to advance clear of a defender, before a brief scramble after his initial shot was blocked led to him converting the rebound.
According to Gallagher, the block from the first effort resulted in a new phase of play, leading to a "reset" and the previous handball no longer being relevant.
Gallagher added: "I think that it was handball originally. I think that he swipes at it, but because it is not picked up by the referee, it carries on and because it does not result in a goal, the argument is that the Fulham player has touched the ball and it is a reset.
"The law says that if it strikes his hand, it has got to go directly to the player."
After the game at the London Stadium, Fulham boss Marco Silva refused to comment on the Scamacca incident, instead choosing to praise the character of his players. body check tags ::
