Ake goal for Man City against Fulham offside - Webb

Manchester City restored their lead in first-half injury-time against Fulham, but Webb says the goal should not have stood

Referees' chief Howard Webb says Manchester City's second goal in their 5-1 win over Fulham on Saturday should not have counted.

"It's a clear situation of offside," Webb told Match Officials: Mic'd Up.

This season referees' body the PGMOL and the Premier League are releasing in-game audio from officials.

"From the outset I think this should have been disallowed. It certainly appears Akanji has an impact on the goalkeeper who seems to hesitate," added Webb on the first episode of Match Officials: Mic'd Up, shown on Sky Sports and TNT Sports.

Webb also said the video assistant referee (VAR) should have awarded Wolves a late penalty against Manchester United in the two sides' opening game of the season.

He added that John Brooks' decision to send off Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk against Newcastle was correct.

And Alejandro Garnacho's strike against Arsenal for Manchester United was "rightly disallowed" for offside.

The application of VAR technology has been questioned and criticised by managers, players and pundits throughout the Premier League since its introduction in 2019.

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Man City 5-1 Fulham - VAR does not overturn goal (2 September)

What happened?

Manchester City went into a 2-1 lead at home to Fulham after Ake headed the ball into the bottom corner. It narrowly passed Akanji standing in an offside position with Fulham stopper Leno checking his dive. VAR Tony Harrington upheld referee Michael Oliver's decision of a goal.

What did the officials say?

VAR Harrington: "Checking the goal, checking the goal. He's [Ake] definitely in an offside position. Has he made an obvious action to impact on the ability of the goalkeeper? He's moving out of the way of the ball."

Assistant VAR Adam Nunn: "In my opinion he makes a full-length save. For me it's subjective, there's potential impact on the keeper, but does it clearly impact the keeper? I think the keeper sees the ball the whole way."

VAR Harrington: "So the keeper sees it, there's no difference, we're happy. Check complete?"

AVAR Nunn: "Personally, I'm happy for check complete."

VAR Harrington: "OK, check complete, check complete."

Webb's response:

"These are not always easy to call because you're trying to get two pieces of information together - is the player offside, and then the consequence of being in that position.

"From the outset I think this should have been disallowed. It certainly appears Akanji has an impact on Leno the goalkeeper who seems to hesitate.

"We think it's a clear situation of offside, unfortunately it wasn't identified on the day. This was an error."

More to follow.

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