Gary Neville sides with West Ham and Jarrod Bowen as Premier League release statement on Chelsea controversy
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Graham Potter feels West Ham can take plenty of pride from their performance as they were controversially beaten 2-1 by Chelsea on Monday night.
Jarrod Bowen pounced on a Chelsea mistake to put the Hammers in front just before half time but goals from Pedro Neto and an own goal from Aaron Wan-Bissaka won the game for the home side.
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Hide AdPotter reflected: “I think we can be proud of our performance. I think you can see from the reaction of the supporters, they know their football, and I think the way they responded at the end of the game probably shows the effort the players put in.
“The way they played, the performance level, I think was good. We feel a little bit unlucky with the first goal, we felt it was a foul by their defender on Jarrod, and I think that was a key moment of the game. If we'd have hung on [to our lead] a little bit more, I think the [home] crowd was getting a little bit frustrated, but it wasn't meant to be. But again, the performance of the players, there were lots of positives there.”
Controversy over Chelsea equaliser
Moments before Chelsea equalised, Bowen appeared to be pushed over by Levi Colwill just inside the Chelsea half as he lost possession but no free kick was given. Bowen was delighted to make his return from injury as he marked his comeback with a goal but expressed disappointment over the manner of the defeat.
He said: “I ended up playing 90 minutes and, yeah, it felt good out there. I just wish we were sat here speaking having got something from the game and not losing it.
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Hide Ad“It’s a disappointing night, ultimately, with the result. There were things that maybe went a little bit against us. A deflected goal and a questionable foul on the halfway line and, then right at the end, Mo [Kudus]'s chance as well that gets blocked [by Tosin Adarabioyo]. So, yeah, it was disappointing from being in the lead at half-time and coming away losing.”
Premier League statement
The Chelsea equaliser was the subject of a VAR check but the Bowen incident was not looked at as it was deemed to have happened before the attacking phase. VAR checked for a possible offside before awarding the goal. The Premier League released a statement via their match centre on X which read: “The referee's call of goal was checked and confirmed by the VAR as there was no factual evidence that Guiu made contact with the ball in the build-up, therefore there was no offside offence."
On commentary for Sky Sports, Gary Neville stated his belief that Bowen should have been awarded a foul. He said: "I actually thought there was a foul on Bowen a lot earlier in the move. I think it was a foul, look at that, Colwill stepping across Bowen. I think it's considered to be too far back but I think that is an obvious foul. I thought so at the time. The Bowen foul has to be spotted.
"I would be furious if I was West Ham. I think the referee and assistant referee are both looking at the game from that side, they should spot that. Colwill just goes and takes him out so he can't get towards [goalkeeper Filip] Jorgensen."
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