Sky Sports pundit admits Everton got lucky on Marcus Rashford VAR ruling
We’re delighted to welcome former Everton striker Kevin Campbell as our exclusive columnist. Each week the former Toffees captain will be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Goodison Park…
Everton “got lucky” against Manchester United when Marcus Rashford had a third goal ruled out by the video assistant, says Kevin Campbell.
The England forward had his strike disallowed when the ball was ruled to have spun off a sliding James Tarkowski and touched his arm before he beat Jordan Pickford, although West Ham striker Gianluca Scamacca’s goal against Fulham in very similar circumstances was allowed to stand earlier in the day (9 October).
Sky Sports pundit Campbell admits that this time it is the Toffees’ opponents who were hard done by after numerous instances the other way, and would prefer decisions to go in favour of the attackers in such situations.
“Yeah I think they did, I think Everton got lucky,” he exclusively told Goodison News.
“I think the fact that Tarkowski went to ground and the ball flipped up and hit him in the midriff, and rolled on and hit his arm, just brushed it, I think Everton got lucky.
“That kept them in the game because that would have made it 3-1.
“So Man United can feel aggrieved. He can’t get out of its way can he? It’s there. But if it hits your arm it hits your arm.
“We’ve seen Scamacca get away with one at West Ham that hit his arm, and I’m pleased because these aren’t deliberate, these are just things that happen.
“Unfortunately for Rashford it was taken away, but it worked out for Everton. Although Man United ended up holding on.”
It ultimately didn’t end up making a difference to the result in this game as Everton were unable to force an equaliser late on.
But at the very least it suggests that a tight one can sometimes land in their favour at a time when the faith of many fans was starting to run out.
Decisions against Liverpool have been especially contentious in the past two Merseyside derbies, while the VAR interventions, or lack thereof, in the games against Newcastle and Manchester City at Goodison last season were major sore points too.