Keith Hackett claims VAR made a big mistake during Chelsea-Sunderland game

Sunderland secured a memorable victory over Chelsea on Saturday, as goals from Wilson Isidor and Chemsdine Talbi ensured a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge. However, questions are now being asked about whether their stoppage time winner should have been allowed to stand.

After good hold-up play from Brian Brobbey, he laid the ball off for Talbi to fire home Sunderland’s winner in the 93rd minute, which sparked wild scenes from the away supporters. However, there have been claims made that these celebrations would have been short-lived, as the legitimacy of the goal has been questioned.

As per Football Insider (via Sunderland Echo), former referee Keith Hackett has claimed that VAR should have disallowed Talbi’s goal due to Lutsharel Geertruida, who joined Sunderland in the summer despite interest from elsewhere, having been in the way of Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez as the shot was struck.

“While I don’t like to see goals ruled out for offside, I am surprised the referee wasn’t asked to review the incident on the pitch-side monitor. In my opinion, the Sunderland player standing in an offside position impacts the Chelsea goalkeeper, and the goal should have been ruled out.”

“The offside law states: ‘interfering with an opponent by preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision.’ It is my belief that the Sunderland player standing in an offside position does impact on the Chelsea goalkeeper, and the goal should be ruled out for an offside offence.”

It would have been very cruel for Sunderland to have had their late goal ruled out, and they will be thankful that the video assistant referee did not intervene. It meant that they rose to the lofty heights of 2nd in the Premier League standings, above the likes of Man City and Liverpool.

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