Arsenal vs West Ham ref watch: Three decisions John Brooks got wrong
Arsenal cruised to a 2-0 win against West Ham at the Emirates Stadium as match referee John Brooks made some dubious decisions throughout.
Arsenal knocked on the door early on as Eberechi Eze missed an open-goal after a scramble on the line, while Bukayo Saka was deemed to be offside after he scored from Declan Rice‘s pass.
Rice then opened the scoring against his former club in the 38th minute after Eze’s shot had been parried to his feet by Alphonse Areola and Saka doubled his side’s lead from the spot in the second-half after El-Hadji Malick Diouf had hauled down Jurrien Timber.
Match referee John Brooks was taking charge of his first top-flight game of the campaign, and Football Insider have picked out three decisions he made that should have gone a different way.
Alphonse Areola should have been penalised for handling a backpass
It was a frantic opening half-an-hour for both sides as Arsenal tried to open the scoring and West Ham soaked up their pressure, and the hosts should have been handed a golden chance to take the lead by Brooks in the 33rd minute.
After a melee in the box that resulted with Aaron Wan-Bissaka blocking Leandro Trossard’s shot, West Ham’s summer signing from Southampton, Mateus Fernandes, kicked the ball back to Areola, who then waited with the ball at his feet before picking it up.
Fernandes had clearly tried to play the ball back to him, and so it should have been seen by Brooks as a backpass rather than him ignoring what had happened, resulting in an indirect free-kick for Arsenal from six yards out.
Soungoutou Magassa should have conceded a penalty for handball
Brooks did give Arsenal a penalty in the second-half as Diouf hauled down Timber, but that actually should have been their second spot-kick of the afternoon after Brooks missed an earlier handball.
Just a minute after the aforementioned backpass claim, the Gunners flooded forward and Saka had a shot which was deflected straight up in the air before bouncing in the box onto Soungoutou Magassa‘s arm.
West Ham signed Magassa from Monaco in the summer, and he was lucky not to give away the first spot-kick of his Irons career here as Brooks waved away Arsenal claims and VAR stuck with his decision.
Considering how outstretched the midfielder’s arm was, those at Stockley Park would surely not have overturned the call if Brooks had pointed to the spot, and it was a clear mistake by the man in the middle.
Leandro Trossard should have been booked for a pull on Jarrod Bowen
Arsenal might have felt hard done by in the first-half by Brooks’ refereeing, but they instead received some good grace from the official in the second period as Leandro Trossard avoided a blatant booking.
The Belgian forward hauled down Jarrod Bowen off the ball ten minutes after the break as the Hammers looked to start a rare attack and find a leveller.
Brooks stopped play for a free-kick to the visitors, but failed to brandish a yellow in the direction of Trossard, which is certainly what he deserved for such a cynical challenge in a potentially dangerous position for West Ham.