Roy Keane and Peter Schmeichel disagree over West Ham disallowed goal against Arsenal

Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel felt West Ham were desperately unlucky to be denied a late equaliser in their 1-0 defeat to Arsenal, insisting the decision was ‘so wrong on so many levels’.

The relegation-threatened Irons appeared to have cancelled out Leandro Trossard’s earlier effort as Callum Wilson struck through a crowd of bodies in a moment of high-drama and tension at the death.

But following a lengthy VAR check, which lasted over five minutes, it was ruled that West Ham substitute Pablo had fouled David Raya in the build-up, with replays showing the Portuguese put an arm across the Arsenal goalkeeper at the London Stadium.

The Gunners’ away end could breathe a collective sigh of relief as referee Chris Kavanagh eventually confirmed that the strike had been disallowed and Mikel Arteta’s men held firm to restore their five-point advantage over Manchester City at the summit.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, West Ham remain stranded in the relegation zone, one point adrift of Spurs, who welcome Leeds to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Monday night.

Facing the media shortly after the final whistle, Arteta applauded the refereeing on show in the derby, claiming Kavanagh and his team were ‘very brave’ to chalk off Wilson’s last-gasp goal.

‘Today I have to congratulate them [the officials]. You need a lot of courage and bravery to stand out and give the opportunity to the referee to have a look at the action,’ the Arsenal head coach said.

‘When you see the picture, there is no question that it is a clear foul. They were very brave.

‘The action deserved that. In my opinion, it is very clear. They are the rules and we ask for consistency.’

Addressing West Ham’s disallowed goal in the Sky Sports studio, Jamie Redknapp, Ian Wright and Roy Keane were all in agreement that the correct decision was made.

‘Oh yeah, absolutely [they got away with one],’ ex-England midfielder Redknapp said of Arsenal’s let-off.

‘The relief for the fanbase and the manager and the players… because for that moment in time, when the ball goes in your net, Declan Rice is trying to unravel everything that’s happening.

‘But obviously Pablo has his arm on the goalkeeper and, as an Arsenal player, you’re just praying that they can see that.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen more holding in my life! To unravel that moment, it was like watching the Super Bowl, everyone was grabbing on for dear life. It was chaos.’

Arsenal icon Wright chimed in: ‘When that goes in, the first thing you’re thinking is, “Please let something have happened”, because when Wilson hits that you’re thinking, hoping something has gone wrong there.

‘Obviously you look back at it and his arm is across him. It was an easy one to give in such a tense moment.

‘Everything flashed in front of me! Not great stuff. You’re thinking we might have blown it then.’

Former Manchester United captain Keane came to the same conclusion as his fellow pundits, while criticising Pablo for giving VAR an opportunity to disallow the goal.

‘VAR are going to check everything… do not put your hands on the goalkeeper! Certainly don’t leave them on for three or four seconds,’ he explained.

‘Obviously it was madness and there’s loads of other fouls, there’s all sorts going on, but because the goalkeeper has such a big part to play, I think it is a foul.

‘He must know they’re going to check VAR, he’s pulling his jersey. There’s all sorts going on. You talk about the discipline… do not give a foul away.’

However, Keane’s former United team-mate Schmeichel took an altogether different view, blasting the call given the amount of ‘doubt’ indicated by the length of the VAR check.

‘What really makes me angry is that Arsenal would never be top of the league if that’s a free-kick,’ the Dane said on Viaplay’s post-match coverage.

‘That’s how they’ve scored so many goals, by blocking people, holding people, doing all kinds of things.

‘And then we get to this point, it takes VAR five minutes, Darren England the VAR, it takes five minutes.

‘He starts it over again and starts it over again and again… that in itself puts so much doubt into that decision that it cannot be a free-kick.

‘I think it’s so wrong. I just don’t understand why all of a sudden that’s a free-kick, because it’s not been for any teams all the way throughout the season.

‘All this, it’s just crazy. And that decision today, it’s just so wrong on so many levels.’

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