Mike Dean instantly reacts to Crystal Palace v Aston Villa VAR drama
Aston Villa headed to Crystal Palace on Tuesday night hoping to secure successive victories in the Premier League.
The Tuesday night encounter (25 February) at Selhurst Park saw Unai Emery make several changes to his starting XI, despite having come from behind to beat Chelsea at the weekend in a game featuring some VAR drama.
Emery’s men started the brighter in South London but were pegged back by Ismaila Sarr’s opener, before Morgan Rogers’ equaliser briefly looked to sway the momentum back.
Sarr fired another after the break, sandwiched between goals for Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eddie Nketiah to cap a 4-1 defeat on a dismal night for Aston Villa.
Sarr’s opening strike was also checked in the VAR studio, before being cleared as a goal.
Aston Villa concede as Dean explains VAR decision
The VAR officials were right to award Sarr’s goal for Crystal Palace despite Tyrick Mitchell being stood in an offside position, according to Mike Dean.
The former Premier League referee, in the Sky Sports studio analysing the officiating (25 February), explained that Chris Richards whose header was the crucial knock into the six-yard box was onside, while Mitchell was not involved in play.
Emi Martinez then parried the header into the path of Sarr, who swept the ball into the net.
“They’re looking for an offside when the ball’s played into the middle, Mitchell was offside at the far post, but [it’s] not an offence being in an offside position,” Dean said.
“It doesn’t get to him, it gets to the player in front of him, he heads the ball and he’s onside – goal given.”
It was 13 minutes later when the barest of margins denied the Villans a leveller, when Rogers’ threaded ball to Watkins was a split-second late before the exchange was played into the middle for him to score.
Villa need points to sustain Champions League challenge
Aston Villa are desperate to keep pace with the pack in gunning for the top five places in the Premier League come May.
It is highly likely fifth place will guarantee the top table of Europe next season due to England’s UEFA coefficient.
The Villans are making an excellent run of it in this campaign’s competition, having finished fourth last season and advanced straight into the last 16 in Europe with some memorable wins.
The victory over Chelsea was a massive step towards achieving their goals, but they have missed out on some points which have gone begging as well and Tuesday’s display was defensively dreadful.
Emery is clearly looking to rotate at the right times and conserve the energy of his team as rivals around them suffer injuries, but juggling multiple fronts towards the business end of the season can sometimes prove difficult. It remains to be seen how the rest of the calendar shapes up for the squad.