Aston Villa ‘got away’ with breaking the law v Man United after ex-Premier League ref analyses footage
Aston Villa should have had their goal against Man United chalked off – but not for the reason Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suggested.
That is according to ex-Premier League and FIFA referee Keith Hackett, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the incident that left Solskjaer fuming after the game.
Villa scored the game’s only goal as Kortney Hause met a corner with a powerful header that sailed past David de Gea.
However, Solskjaer told Sky Sports that the goal should have been disallowed for offside.
The Man United boss felt Ollie Watkins was in De Gea’s line of sight as he tried to stop the header from hitting the back of his net.
“Solskjaer has a reasonable cause for complaint,” Hackett claimed after analysing the footage with Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“Not on the question of offside but on the question of unfairly impeding the goalkeeper. He gets to a position where he’s standing in front of him and backing into the goalkeeper as the ball comes in.
“I think, generally, he has unfairly impeded De Gea. I think, on that one, a foul should have been awarded. It’s an interesting one and I didn’t pick up on it during the game.
“Aston Villa got away with one.”
Villa hired a specialist set-piece coach, Austin MacPhee, over the summer and he celebrated wildly with Dean Smith when Hause’s header hit the back of the net.
According to WhoScored, the Midlands club have now scored twice from set-pieces and have also scored with two penalties.
In other news, Aston Villa sensation is “in the shop window” as January exit “likely”.