David Raya was convinced that West Ham’s equalising goal against Arsenal would be disallowed. The Hammers believed they had snatched a vital leveller against the Gunners deep into injury time, only for the effort to be ruled out following a VAR review.
Footage revealed a foul by West Ham’s Pablo on Raya as the ball entered the penalty area. The Arsenal stopper was consequently unable to gather the ball, which broke to Callum Wilson to bundle over the line.
The infringement initially went unpenalised with the goal standing on the pitch. However, referee Chris Kavanagh was directed to the pitchside monitor to review the incident before overturning the decision.
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The ruling saw Arsenal claim a 1-0 victory courtesy of Leandro Trossard’s strike a few minutes earlier.
Speaking post-match, Trossard revealed what Raya had told him in the wake of the West Ham goal. “Raya said straight away ‘it can’t be a goal’,” he told Sky Sports.
“At that moment, I had a lot of faith. I believed because he was pretty convincing, but you never know.
“You are thinking it is not going our way, but luckily it was a foul and we won the game.
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“It was relief as there wasn’t long to go, but we still had to dig in for a couple of minutes. We are just really happy with this win.”
Reflecting on the match as a whole, the match-winner added: “That was one of the toughest games in general. When we scored there was a lot of joy, but then we had to dig in at the end and not concede.
View 2 ImagesLeandro Trossard scored the only goal of the game to claim Arsenal a vital 1-0 win. (Image: ADRIAN DENNIS, AFP via Getty Images)
“Then with the goal, I was just happy we won.”
The win propels Arsenal five points ahead of second-placed Manchester City in the Premier League standings. City do, however, possess a game in hand, which takes place on Wednesday evening when they face Crystal Palace at the Etihad Stadium.