Chelsea hear immediate verdict over ‘offside’ Arsenal goal in Carabao Cup tie

Chelsea fell behind after seven minutes when Ben White nodded home an Arsenal corner during their Carabao Cup semi-final

Former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink admitted it was the right decision to allow Arsenal defender Ben White’s goal to stand.

Jamie Redknapp was also adamant that there was no infringement from Viktor Gyokeres in the build-up to the opening goal during Wednesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final.

Arsenal took the lead through Ben White in the opening exchanges after Robert Sanchez misjudged the flight of the in-swinging cross, leaving the England international to head into an empty net. However, there was a brief VAR check after the Sweden international, who was in an offside position, was jostling with Marc Guiu.

The goal stood but there were some similarities between Antoine Semenyo’s effort that was controversially ruled out during Manchester City’s Carabao Cup semi-final against Newcastle United on Tuesday.

There was a five-minute delay following the intervention of VAR after Erling Haaland was deemed to be interfering with play from an offside position, which meant the Ghanian’s effort was ruled out.

It was ruled that Gyokeres was not impacting the ability for an opponent to play the ball, Sky Sports presenter Mark Chapman revealed.

The panel was unanimous that the goal should not have been ruled out, despite the similarities between White’s goal and Semenyo’s effort.

The former Chelsea striker Hasselbaink said: “For me it’s offside, like yesterday. (studio in fits of laughter) No, for me, I understand, yesterday I thought it wasn’t offside and today, the same, it’s not offside. It’s well worked from Arsenal, well done.”

There were few complaints from the Chelsea players and the check from Stockley Park was over within seconds. Shortly after the restart, Gyokeres was on hand to stab home to double their lead after White’s cutback squirmed into his path.

The incident at St James’ Park sparked outrage from City boss Pep Guardiola and their January signing, Semenyo, voiced his concerns to the cameraperson as he walked off the pitch following their 2-0 win.

He said: “The second goal should have stood.”

Stuart Attwell ruled out the goal out Haaland deemed to be in an offside position and adjudged to have impacted Pope’s line of sight, keeping the score at 1-0, instructing referee Chris Kavanagh to go over to the monitor.

Rayan Cherki would double their lead late on but it didn’t stop Guardiola from expressing his frustration at the decision.

He said: “I’d like to know why VAR in the 60th minute of the Premier League game against Newcastle – that we lost 2-1 – it was 0-0 and it was a penalty for [Fabian] Schar on Phil Foden, not even consideration.

“In the 20th minute there is an unbelievable penalty for the shot for Jeremy Doku off the hand, and not even VAR.

“I’m pretty sure Howard Webb [technical director for Professional Game Match Officials] is going to call me tomorrow to take explanations for that.

“Today was more than six minutes [reviewing] and we’re not even able to discuss it with the referee. But they will call me.”