Ex-Premier League referee: Ben Godfrey injury ‘avoidable’ as controversial Everton footage analysed
Ben Godfrey’s crushing injury during the 1-0 Everton loss to Chelsea on Saturday (7 August) was “avoidable”, according to Keith Hackett.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the ex-Fifa and Premier League official suggested the assistant referee should have raised his flag when the ball went out of play just before Godfrey’s injury.
As shown on the BBC’s Match of the Day programme, the 24-year-old’s attempted backpass had gone out of play despite Jordan Pickford’s attempts to stop the corner.
Godfrey recovered and stopped Kai Havertz’s shot but was injured in the process.
Everton confirmed on Monday (8 August) that the defender will miss three months of football after undergoing surgery on his fractured fibula.
“This is where the ball was out of play and they didn’t flag it,” Hackett said after analysing the footage with Football Insider correspondent Connor Whitley.
“Look, at the end of the day, the ball is way out and look how far the assistant referee is off it, he’s got caught out.
“If I was the VAR, unofficially, I’d be shouting ‘Ball out, ball out’.
“That whole thing was avoidable. They’ve been very unlucky but this is what happens in football.
“This is why I brought goalline technology in. I know an add-on they can have with goalline technology is determining whether the ball is in or out of play.
“The assistant referee has got caught out, this is football and these things do happen. It’s sad that a player gets injured in that way.
“The surprise is that I expected more of this with the delayed flag on offside.
“Ultimately, at the end of the day, if the assistant had put his flag up it may have prevented the injury but it may have not.”
In other news, Everton went on a Saturday transfer mission for a striker and £20million will seal the deal.