Why Micky van de Ven’s Tottenham goal was right to be ruled out as Cristian Romero deletes critical post

Tottenham were furious after Micky van de Ven’s goal against Arsenal was ruled out – but it was the right decision.

Arsenal emerged 3-2 winners against Tottenham on Sunday in the north London derby to strengthen their Premier League title claim.

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The Gunners took the early lead when Bukayo Saka’s corner was headed in by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg before the game’s first moment of controversy.

The home side thought they had equalized when Van de Ven latched onto a loose ball to smash it past David Raya.

However, VAR intervened and ruled the Dutchman was offside – much to the fury of the home fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the players on the pitch.

Indeed, the initial ball, a hard shot from Pedro Porro outside the area, bounced off Gabriel Magalhaes and Takehiro Tomiyasu.

This led many to believe that the offside should not have counted since the ball was “played” after two Arsenal players touched it.

Among them, Cristiano Romero, who fumed after the match on social media to a fan: “West Ham scored the same goal against us at home.”

On this occasion, a shot was deflected by Romero before heading towards Jarrod Bowen, who scored for the Hammers.

But the Argentine quickly deleted his post when it became clear that the decision to deny Van de Ven’s strike was the right one.

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Indeed, neither Tomiyasu nor Gabriel had intended to play the ball and were in the way when Pedro Porro shot.

This meant that offside lines had to be drawn from the moment the ball left the Spaniard’s foot, showing that Van de Ven was narrowly offside when it finally reached him.

Tottenham’s woes were compounded moments later when Saka doubled Arsenal’s lead before Kai Havertz made it three before half-time from another corner.

Spurs attempted to come back after the break when a Raya error allowed Romero to score before Declan Rice was adjudged to have fouled Ben Davies in the box.

This allowed Heung-min Son to score from the penalty spot three minutes from the end of normal time, making for a nervous finish for Mikel Arteta.

But Arsenal held on to maintain their place at the top of the Premier League, even as Manchester City continue to hide by a point with a game in hand.