Overview
- Chelsea’s opener at Stamford Bridge, a Trevoh Chalobah near-post header, was checked by VAR John Brooks and allowed to stand.
- Freeze-frames showed Enzo Fernández beyond Arsenal’s defenders when the header was made, but he did not touch the ball.
- Because the offside player did not make contact, the semi-automated system did not auto-flag the phase and the VAR assessed potential interference manually.
- Analysts highlighted Fernández’s movement near Cristhian Mosquera as grounds for an offside offence, yet VAR judged he did not impact the defender’s ability to play the ball.
- The 1-1 draw featured an equaliser from Mikel Merino, drew strong fan backlash online, and extended an ongoing debate over subjective offside calls and the ‘clear and obvious’ threshold.