Mark Clattenburg issues verdict on decision to allow John Stones’ winner for Manchester City against Wolves | OneFootball

Former Premier League referee, Mark Clattenburg has explained why John Stones’ winning goal for Manchester City against Wolves was perfectly legal in law.

Jorgen Strand Larsen gave Wolves the lead inside the opening 10 minutes for the hosts as they hoped to turn around their season, and climb off the bottom of the Premier League table after a winless start to the campaign.

However, a stunning equaliser from Josko Gvardiol just after the half hour mark got Manchester City back into the game, as the Premier League champions went on to dominate proceedings for the remainder of the contest.

But it would not be until the fifth minute of injury time at the end of the contest when Manchester City would make the breakthrough once again and complete the comeback, as John Stones crashed home a header from a corner.

But the goal was originally chalked off due to Bernardo Silva being adjudged to have intervened with play from an offside position, initially appearing to stand in front of Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa.

Following further review from the Video Assistant Referee and Chris Kavanagh at the pitchside monitor, the goal was allowed to stand as Bernardo Silva was evidently not stood in the line of sight of Jose Sa, nor was his bump into the Wolves goalkeeper prior to the header being a foul.

Writing in a new column for MailSport, the former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg has now offered clear reasoning as to why John Stones’ winning goal for Manchester City was perfectly legal and was correctly allowed to stand.

“Yes, Bernardo Silva was in an offside position when John Stones crashed his header beyond Jose Sa, but there’s more to it. You have to pose yourself the same questions (Chris) Kavanagh will have asked himself at the pitchside monitor,” Clattenburg said.

“Firstly, was Silva blocking Sa’s line of vision? The answer is no, because when you see the freeze frame, he’s dived out of the way to make sure of that.

“Secondly, does Silva impact Sa’s ability to play the ball at the precise moment that Stones makes contact? Again, the answer is no, as the header goes straight through the goalkeeper. It was telling that there were no protests from Sa or any Wolves players.”

He closed, “It was only once Gary O’Neil and his coaching staff had watched the replay that they hoped to find a reason — any reason — to get the goal disallowed.”

Manchester City return to action almost immediately as they take on Sparta Prague on matchday three of the UEFA Champions League’s league phase on Wednesday night, before Southampton visit the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.