Spurs boss: VAR ‘200%’ correct to disallow West Ham goal vs Arsenal

Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images

“I think [the referees] were not calm today,” De Zerbi said. “Maybe they suffer the pressure of yesterday, West Ham-Arsenal game. The VAR.

“For sure, we suffer the pressure today. But also, the referee was not calm today.

“I can’t understand the polemic about yesterday’s VAR [decision] because it was a foul, 200%. Not 100%, 200%, if you want to speak about football.”

Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images

It’s fair to point out that Spurs had a vested interest in the West Ham goal being disallowed, given the Hammers are their direct rivals in the current relegation scrap.

For once, it was probably a good thing for Spurs to see Arsenal winning a game, meaning De Zerbi wasn’t an entirely neutral party in this case.

But there was no necessity to defend the decision after the fact, with West Ham’s points already dropped. No one was going to give the Hammers their disallowed goal back if De Zerbi said VAR made a mistake. So De Zerbi’s comments are likely his genuine opinion on the incident.

Regardless of the reasons why, Spurs certainly saw an opportunity go begging against Leeds on Monday. A win would have put them on the verge of safety, but they now need four points or more from their final two games to guarantee their top-flight status.