Premier League forced to release three statements after Brighton vs Aston Villa controversy
The latest Aston Villa news as VAR got involved in three separate incidents during their impressive midweek Premier League win at the Amex Stadium.
Aston Villa extended their winning run to six games in all competitions on Wednesday night as they earned an impressive 3-0 victory on the road at Brighton.
After his brace against Preston in the FA Cup quarter finals, Manchester United loanee Marcus Rashford scored again as he opened the scoring with what was his first Premier League goal for Villa. Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen were also on the score-sheet to make it a successful night's work for Unai Emery's side.
But the match wasn't without controversy. In fact, the Premier League were forced to release three different statements throughout the game surrounding four different refereeing decisions which were checked by VAR.
Firstly, Villa thought they should have had a penalty in the first half when Jack Hinshelwood challenged Jacob Ramsey in the area. Those appeals were waved away by the referee - with the call then being checked by VAR.
On their official X (formerly Twitter) account, the Premier League Match Centre explained the decision and how that was made. "The referee's call of no penalty to Aston Villa, following a challenge by Hinshelwood on Ramsey, was checked and confirmed by VAR - with the contact deemed not to reach the threshold for a foul," it read.
In the second half, Brighton thought that they had equalised within four minutes of Rashford opening the scoring through Simon Adingra. However, after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was ruled out due to a handball in the build-up of that goal-scoring move.
A second statement was released by the Premier League. "VAR checked the referee's call of goal for Brighton and established Mitoma handled the ball deliberately in the build-up, and recommended an on-field review," that read. "The goal was then disallowed."
Finally, VAR was involved in checking Asensio's goal to make it 2-0 to Villa. Brighton claimed that there was a foul by Ollie Watkins on Mats Wieffer in the build-up. VAR, though, recommended to stick with the on-field decision of awarding the goal.
On social media, the Premier League confirmed: "The referee's call of goal was checked and confirmed by VAR - with the contact between Watkins and Wieffer in the build-up deemed to be mutual - with no foul committed."
The win over Brighton means Villa sit in seventh place in the table, just two point behind Newcastle in fifth place and three behind fourth placed Man City. Newcastle do, however, have a game-in-hand. Villa are next in action on Saturday evening (5.30pm) when they take on high-flying Nottingham Forest at Villa Park.
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