- Michail Antonio opened the scoring before Nicolo Zaniolo’s late equalizer
- Aston Villa are fourth and three points ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham
- We’ve already conceded more goals than last season… Why Newcastle aren’t the force they used to be – It’s all a kick-off podcast
You would forgive David Moyes for feeling a little ill about the handball law.
Here two goals were ruled out, two penalties were not given against Burnley and Freiburg last week.
It took more than five minutes before referee Jarred Gillett was sent to the monitor to check if the ball had hit Tomas Soucek’s arm before bouncing off Jarrod Bowen into the net for what looked like a late winner.
Gillett made a quick decision when he saw the images. No goal. It had taken almost as long for VAR to disallow Michail Antonio’s goal earlier in the second half for the same foul.
A match that was the story of two European hangovers, Aston Villa in the first half and West Ham in the second, somehow lasted a whopping 103 minutes.
You would forgive West Ham boss David Moyes for feeling a little ill about the handball law.
Antonio’s diving header, his first goal since August, had given West Ham a deserved lead at half-time.
But Villa appeared to find a solution to their fatigue in the second half when substitute Nicolo Zaniolo scored the important equalizer eleven minutes from time.
Defeat for Villa here after last week’s 4-0 defeat to Tottenham would have put a dent in their top four hopes, even if West Ham had done them a favor in midweek by putting English clubs on course for a fifth-place finish in the Champions League.
The new format means that two performance places can be won, which are determined by the two countries with the best average performance in all European competitions this season.
England were in third place, behind Italy and Germany, before the Hammers’ victory moved them into second place.
It also means that if the FA Cup winners finish in the top seven, the eighth-placed team will take the spot in the Europa Conference League.
Villa finished fourth in Sunday’s match, boosted by Spurs’ 3–0 defeat to Fulham a day earlier. But it seemed to do little to spark them into life in the opening stages.
Neither team could really gain a foothold in the opening twenty minutes, but West Ham started to get on top midway through the first half. Soucek’s attempt to deflect Lucas Paqueta’s shot past Emi Martinez almost produced results, but bounced just wide. Martinez then made an excellent save to keep out Vladimir Coufal’s deflected attack.
But Martinez could do nothing more about Antonio’s goal after half an hour. Coufal found space on the right and scored a wonderful cross between Villa’s central defenders. Antonio threw himself forward, connected with power and guided the ball into the bottom right corner.
Antonio thought he had scored his and West Ham’s second just after half-time before VAR intervened. Bowen’s corner was headed by Soucek and hit Antonio before bouncing into the net. It was difficult to see on the replays, but VAR ruled that the ball had hit Antonio’s hand and the goal was disallowed.
Antonio thought he had scored his and West Ham’s second just after half-time before VAR intervened
From there Villa improved. Youri Tielemans forced Alphonse Areola into a routine save from long range, but the goalkeeper made a better stop to deny Ezri Konsa from inside the penalty area.
Villa had steadily built up the pressure and the home crowd probably sensed that an equalizer was coming. That came in the 79th minute when Moussa Diaby drove down the right and sent in a cross that was met by Zaniolo, who sent the ball through Areola’s legs and into the net.
It looked like the Hammers had got a late winner when a combination of Bowen and Soucek managed to force the ball over the line after Konstantinos Mavropanos had sent a header towards goal. Villa immediately appealed to handball and five minutes later referee Gillett came to the same conclusion.
