Ex-Fifa referee: Edouard controversy would not have been allowed before as Crystal Palace footage analysed
Jordan Ayew’s goal for Crystal Palace in their 2-2 draw with Southampton would not have stood last season, according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League referee claimed Odsonne Edouard’s handball in the build-up would have been punished as it would have been if Edouard himself had scored Palace’s equaliser on Tuesday (15 December).
The ball struck the forward’s hand before it fell to have him a shot on the Southampton goal.
Willy Caballero saved his effort but it fell into the path of Ayew who converted for his first Premier League goal of the season.
“It would have been chalked off last season,” Hackett said after analysing the footage with Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“This is the refinement of the law. There was a lot of debate on social media about that.
“In that sense, I think it was the right decision.
“Last season, it was a nonsense. I still have doubts about the handling of the ball into the net but I can understand that because it goes back to Diego Maradona and Michel Platini and all that.
“This is an amendment to the law, and it’s a good one.
“If Edouard had scored, it would have been disallowed. VAR would have had to come in and check it.
“It’s accidental, it doesn’t have to be deliberate. You can no longer score when you have used your hand in either a deliberate or accidental manner.”
Not only was Ayew‘s goal his first of the season it was his first in 44 days.
Despite his barren run, the 30-year-old has performed well under Patrick Vieira and had two assists to his name in 16 top-flight appearances this term.
In other news, a Crystal Palace star should have been banned after ‘farcical’ footage emerges.