Revealed – The reason why this key decision was not given against Chelsea against West Brom | OneFootball

The ball struck Kai Havertz’s arm before Chelsea equalized

Tammy Abraham brought Chelsea level in stoppage time after being 3-0 down at half-time to West Brom.

The players did however have to endure a tense wait where a possible handball against Kai Havertz was being reviewed by VAR.

Thankfully, the goal held and we got away with a point. While the result is hardly anything to celebrate, the fightback does deserve credit.

Replays showed that the ball did indeed strike Havertz’s arm in the build-up to the goal. Football.london has explained why it did not lead to the goal being chalked off.

The decision is less controversial than it appears. In fact, Chelsea were the beneficiaries of a rule change made by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) before this season.

According to the rule, the attacking team will be penalized ‘only’ if the handball leads immediately to a goal or goalscoring opportunity.

In our case, while Havertz handled the ball, it fell to Mount, who struck it goalwards. It was from this rebound that Abraham scored.

According to the report, it was deemed that a sufficient amount of time had passed for VAR to no longer be able to intervene.

In fact, the West Brom keeper would have done well to let the ball go in as it might then have been ruled out for handball.

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