The Premier League has addressed the controversy surrounding a decision to disallow a potential match-winning goal for Southampton during their 1-1 draw against Brighton on Friday.
In the 67th minute, Cameron Archer appeared to score a goal that would have given Southampton a 2-1 lead, following Flynn Downes’ equalizer after Kaoru Mitoma’s early opener for Brighton.
However, despite Archer being onside when Ryan Fraser played the ball to him, the goal was ruled out due to Adam Armstrong’s offside position.
The offside decision was made because Armstrong, although not involved in the play directly, was judged to have impacted Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen’s ability to react to the ball.
The Premier League confirmed the call on their Match Centre X account, stating:
“The referee’s decision of no goal was checked and confirmed by VAR as Armstrong was in an offside position and deemed to be interfering with [Verbruggen’s] ability to play the ball.”
The decision, which took 4 minutes and 27 seconds to review, drew criticism from fans for the slow pace of the process.
Southampton goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, who is sidelined with injury, posted on X: “You cannot be serious.”
The match had already been a fiery contest, with 10 minutes of added time announced as Southampton pushed for their second win of the season.
