Walcott reacts to double Aston Villa controversy v Forest as MOTD show footage
Theo Walcott has reacted to a double Aston Villa controversy in the 2-1 loss to Nottingham Forest.
Unai Emery’s side were defeated at the City Ground (14 December) but the loss was marred by two contentious incidents.
The Villans had a first-half penalty claim turned down and a potential foul on Matty Cash for Forest’s late winner was not given with VAR not intervening.
However, Match of the Day pundit Walcott [14 December, 23:28] believes that both incidents were correctly not awarded, for the penalty incident, he said: “There is two fouls here, first of all, Morgan Rogers initiates the foul by pulling Anderson’s shirt, then there’s another foul, Anderson pulling the shirt, very lucky both of them not to be given, it’s a bit unlucky.”
On the foul on Cash, he added: “I do think it is a foul but I like the fact they have just played on and decided to go with the referee’s decision, I don’t want to see goals disallowed for this.”
Aston Villa got what they deserved from the game
Ultimately, the Villans got what they deserved from the contest in the end as Forest were the better side on the night.
The hosts had 17 shots to the visitors eight, with six hitting the target compared to Villa’s two efforts on goal.
The fact that the goals were conceded in the 87th and 93rd minutes and the VAR controversy will sting, especially since Jhon Duran gave them the lead on 63 minutes.
However, as Walcott states, both decisions were correct, the Rogers penalty claim was six of one and half a dozen of the other and Cash goes down far too easily for the winning goal.
The Villans were lucky, as there was another controversial call, Chris Wood had a goal ruled out in the 81st minute to the surprise of Gary Lineker.
In other Aston Villa news, Marc Albrighton was stunned by an ‘incredible’ Emi Martinez moment in the defeat.
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