David Moyes to seek VAR guidance after Lewis Dunk’s goal at London Stadium

David Moyes demanded more clarity from the Premier League and VAR chiefs after another controversial goal in the 2-2 draw with Brighton.

Lewis Dunk scored Brighton’s second goal which was given despite the ball hitting the defender’s forearm before he fired into the net.

The Premier League said afterwards that although it was reviewed at length by the VAR, there was not any “clear and conclusive evidence” that the ball had touched Dunk’s hand.

But Hammers boss Moyes said: “I’ve looked back at it and it hits his arm. Maybe I should ask about the rules. If it hits his arm and it leads to a goal, I think the rules would tell me that’s a handball.

“If that’s the rules we are playing to we need to know why VAR chose not to.

“We’d like it to come from the people who make the decisions. They must surely have the same camera angles.

“We’ve had a couple of really raw decisions lately. I don’t think the Premier League doing a particularly good job of explaining it.

“If they made a mistake I’d like some one to say they got that wrong. Then I’d accept it. But we’re not getting any clarity. We’d like to know.”

Certainly, in old money at least, to disallow the goal would have been harsh. Seagulls boss Graham Potter said: “Common sense isn’t always common practice, so it’s nice when one goes your way.”

Brighton led at half-time through Neal Maupay, but a double substitution from Moyes changed the game after Andriy Yarmolenko and Manuel Lanzini set up Ben Johnson to equalise with his first senior goal.

Dunk’s strike, at the near post from a corner, put Brighton back into the lead but, fortunately for Moyes, Tomas Soucek’s late header rescued a point.

Brighton have become something of a bogey side for the Hammers, who have never beaten them in the Premier League.

Potter felt, with some justification, that they should have taken all three points.

“That’s my feeling, frustrated,” he added. “The performance was maybe worthy of three points, it was a good away performance, but we didn’t defend the second goal well. That was disappointing, it was too easy. We have to improve that.”

Brighton have won just once in 13 matches, and Potter admitted: “We need to create more chances and restrict the opposition. We did it quite well, lot’s of positives, but we’re disappointed with only one point.

“We have to keep working, keep fighting and keep staying together.”

Online Editors