Following their 3-1 victory against Bournemouth this Sunday, questions were raised by the reporters regarding the challenge on David Silva that led to a penalty being awarded. Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola told the press to ask the “VAR people.”
For this special we teamed up with Matthew Johnson, expert in football predictions, and a UEFA certified referee to get some more inside information.
City midfielder David Silva was fouled on in the opposition box during the second half of the game which the referee asked the players to play on before the VAR overturned the referee’s decision. With continuous replay showing that Cherries player Jefferson Lerma made a foot contact with the City player in the penalty area.
Manchester City have had VAR troubles since the beginning of the 2019/20 campaign with Raheem Sterling opening goal against West Ham and was later ruled out as offside by the VAR, and Gabriel Jesus’s goal which was supposed to be a last-minute and also ruled out against Tottenham Hotspur last week.
When asked about Lerma challenge on Silva during the second half of the game, Guardiola said: “No, no, no, penalty, no, no.
“It was clear hands last game [against Tottenham], I saw the last game. Penalty? No, please.”
Jesus’ last-minute winner ruled out against Spurs on Sunday will make it the second time the Cityzens was denied as late minute winner against the North London club.
The first time was during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final where City thought they had won the match and defeated the Spurs when Sterling scored.
The goal was ruled off after replays showed that Sergio Aguero was a little bit offside during the build-up of the goal, ending the Cityzens Champions League campaign last season.
During the press conference, Guardiola was asked if all the Premier League managers were briefed about the VAR potential issues before the campaign started, he said: “Ask [that question] to the VAR people, don’t ask to me.”
Although the season has only just started with three games played, Manchester City have been unbeaten in their Premier League games and will be hosting Brighton Hove Albion on Saturday as they look set win the League for the third time in a row. According to the latest bookmaker odds and premier league predictions Man City is this year titles favourite.
Speaking to the Press, he said via Goal: “The challenge this season will be amazing for us, after winning two titles back-to-back the challenge will be great.”