West Ham vs Norwich: Remarkable scenes as Tim Krul avoids penalty for WWE-like move | OneFootball

West Ham United vs Norwich City didn't exactly leap off the fixture sheet on Wednesday night.

With all due respect to the Premier League sides, the evening's line-up looked to be dominated by two of football's tastiest rivalries in Barcelona vs Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur vs Chelsea.

However, the first-half at the London Stadium still did enough to get people talking on social media despite the fact that Norwich managed to keep the score down to 1-0.

West Ham vs Norwich City

Jarrod Bowen might have opened the scoring in east London, but it was a bizarre incident involving Tim Krul and Nikola Vlašić that left supporters stabbing at their keyboards the most.

That's because footage has emerged of Krul manhandling the West Ham midfielder to an extent that he was dragged into the goal-mouth with such force that he required treatment afterwards.

Replays showed the Norwich goalkeeper essentially putting Vlašić into a headlock for a sustained period of time, understandably prompting many Hammers fans to appeal for a penalty.

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Controversial Krul vs Vlašić situation

But alas, for reasons hitherto unknown, neither the on-field officials nor VAR showed any sign of giving a spot-kick despite the level of physicality suggesting that a foul was an inevitability.

Don't just take our word for it, though, because you can make up your own mind on what appears to be one of the most egregious VAR oversights of the season by watching the footage below:

How are we meant to tell our children that this wasn't given as a penalty? Madness.

Fans vent their frustrations

One supporter quipped on Twitter: "Krul puts Vlasic in a headlock so good it’s not been seen since Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 3 and VAR don’t even have a look."

Another chimed in by posting: "I can’t get over this. Krul hit him with the RKO out of nowhere and VAR is having a cuppa and a biscuit."

Tottenham 0-1 Chelsea Match Reaction (Football Terrace)

While a third pondered: "Tim Krul literally throws Vlasic to the ground. If that was a defender it’d be a penalty why is it any different for a goalkeeper?"

And a fourth opined: "One of the most ridiculous decisions I’ve seen that this wasn’t even looked at. Vlasic isn’t even impeding Krul properly. But Krul decides to just throw Vlasic to the ground."

A lot of hyperbole goes around about controversial VAR decisions these days, but it's hard not to have sympathy with Hammers fans over an incident that looked nailed on to be a spot-kick for them.

We would say that it was a stonewall penalty, but it was more Stone Cold Steve Austin. We'll see ourselves out...

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