Ex-PL referee suggests West Ham defender was lucky not to concede penalty vs. Man City | OneFootball

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·16 May 2022

Ex-PL referee suggests West Ham defender was lucky not to concede penalty vs. Man City

Article image:Ex-PL referee suggests West Ham defender was lucky not to concede penalty vs. Man City

Sunday afternoon in the Premier League saw title favourites Manchester City travel to the London Stadium for an intriguing matchup against David Moyes’ West Ham United.

With just two games to play and desperate to continue their surge towards this season’s title, manager Pep Guardiola would have known that defeat would swing momentum in the direction of second-place Liverpool.

To everyone’s surprise, after starting the game poorly, the Citizens quickly found themselves two-nil down thanks to a first-half brace from in-form winger Jarrod Bowen.


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However, after Guardiola presumably grilled his side during the halftime interval, the Citizens came out firing and thanks to a Jack Grealish volley, were able to halve the deficit almost immediately.

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Unfortunately for the Hammers, full-back Vladimir Coufal later headed home an own goal to make the game level at 2-2, which is how the encounter eventually ended.

However, one of the match’s biggest talks was when defender Kurt Zouma appeared to kick striker Gabriel Jesus inside his own area during the game’s second half.

A penalty kick was not awarded but former Premier League referee Mark Halsey, who spoke exclusively to CaughtOffside, feels that if it had of been, there would have been no complaints.

“If Anthony Taylor gives that as a penalty, it stays given,” Halsey said.

“There is definite contact from Zouma on Jesus but it’s just one of those that is subjective. VAR has had a look at it and deemed it not a clear and obvious error by the match referee, so they haven’t got involved.”

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