3) Refereeing blunder early in the game
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The game was evenly matched for the first 15 minutes and West Ham United had actually scored a great team goal. But they were denied by a poor decision from the linesman on the far side.
The incident occurred when Mark Noble played a cross into the box from the left side of the pitch, which was met by Andy Carroll. The English striker played it for the forward rushing Manuel Lanzini.
The Argentine scored with a fine header and started to celebrate. But he was soon stopped as the linesman raised his flag for offside. The decision was not liked by the home side and its support.
Replays suggested that Hector Bellerin had played all the West Ham players on-side and the linesman had got it wrong. Another such incident took place when Carroll ran in behind the Arsenal defence into the box but Koscielny managed to get between him and the ball.
Ospina came rushing to get the ball but Carroll kicked it away, only for Payet to turn it into the back of the net. The referee adjudged that Carroll had wrapped his arms around Koscielny, so he gave a foul against West Ham. In such cases, the referee should be blowing his whistle at the time of the foul and not after seeing the consequences of the play.
