London: Chelsea missed a string of chances to draw goalless at home with Arsenal in the first leg of their League Cup semifinal Wednesday as the video assistant referee (VAR) stoked the tension with two important interventions.
The hosts struggled to break down Arsene Wenger’s side despite enjoying the majority of possession and will feel hard done by after crafting the best of the game’s few openings in a lively game at the Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen wasted the best of the hosts’ opportunities, failing to find the target with two headers in the second half after Cesc Fabregas had also spurned a headed chance before the break.
Yet with limited goalmouth action, what little drama there was seemed to stem from referee Martin Atkinson referring a handful of decisions to the VAR.
The VAR system was being given its second outing in English football and was called into action in the first half to confirm Atkinson’s decision to wave away a penalty appeal after Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi went down following a challenge from Victor Moses.
It was called on again with two minutes remaining and once more confirmed the referee’s decision not to award a penalty, this time after Danny Welbeck got a faint touch on the ball when bringing down Fabregas.
With the system still in the test phase all eyes were focussed on how it would work, with Wenger voicing concerns in the aftermath about the length of time it took to confirm the referee’s decision not to award a penalty against Welbeck.
The winners will face either Manchester City or second tier Bristol City in the final, with the Premier League leaders taking a 2-1 lead into the second leg.
reuters
