A new Tariq Lamptey handball verdict has been issued after Chelsea and Enzo Maresca were left fuming with a controversial Brighton goal sealing their FA Cup exit. The Blues went in front on the south coast as Cole Palmer forced an own goal by Bart Verbruggen after just five minutes.
Georginio Rutter netted an equaliser just before the quarter-of-an-hour mark however, with the Seagulls going in front in the 57th minute through a delightful, but controversial, Kaoru Mitoma goal. Chelsea wanted a handball given against Lamptey after a blocked shot appeared to strike his hand before the ball was worked to Mitoma who scored.
Despite their late attempts, Chelsea were unable to find a way back into the game which resulted in defeat. As it was the winning goal, all the talk after the game centred around the potential handball that occurred moments before Mitoma bagged the winner.
With no VAR in operation, there was no way to go back and look at the decision after referee Jarred Gillett did not blow his whistle immediately after the potential offence. Maresca was unsurprisingly asked for his thoughts on the incident following the game, with the Chelsea boss making his feelings perfectly clear.
“I think the handball is quite clear,” he told BBC Sport. “In the last two or three days there were many different moments in different games. Without VAR it’s complicated.” Whether or not Lamptey actually handled, with it clearly accidental, may not have mattered even with VAR as several examples have shown this season.
And in a new twist, speaking on Match of the Day’s FA Cup Fourth-Round Highlights show, former Norwich City and West Ham United goalkeeper Rob Green gave his verdict on the incident. He said: “It wasn’t [a handball]. It’s an accidental handball and unless Lamptey puts it in the goal, it’s not. Yes it hits him on the hand, it’s a natural action in football, his arms are going to go up, he’s striking the ball.
“Chelsea have two attempts to clear the ball, it hits another player on the back and then the through ball. And then that [Mitoma controlling the ball] is off the shoulder. As they call it in football, that’s off the green zone. You’re fine, go ahead, score the goal. I don’t think there’s an argument. Yes it hits Lamptey on the hand, no it’s not a handball.
During Tottenham’s Premier League clash against Newcastle, Joelinton clearly blocked a pass out with his hand but as it was in a natural position and he was not the goal-scorer, Anthony Gordon saw his equaliser allowed after Dominic Solanke had opened the scoring.
Therefore, the only way the goal would have likely been disallowed, even with VAR, would have been if Gillet spotted it in real-time. Chelsea also had a number of chances to clear the danger before Rutter picked out Mitoma who calmly lifted the ball over Robert Sanchez.
