Arsenal made it difficult but managed to squeeze past Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday night in front of the Emirates Stadium crowd.
It wasn’t an easy encounter as Jean-Philippe Mateta’s early goal gave the side some work to do, putting them behind at the break.
The Gunners roared back though as a Gabriel Jesus hat-trick put them in firm control, with Eddie Nketiah’s goal rendered as nothing more than a consolation.
In the end, a victory means that Arsenal have booked their place in the EFL Cup semi-finals, with hopes of lifting silverware.
The side were perhaps a little fortunate though, with an officiating mistake going their way this time.
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Arsenal get lucky with Gabriel Jesus offside decision
Over the past few weeks, Arsenal have struggled to break teams down, which may be partially due to the movement of the strikers.
At times the forwards haven’t always looked to stretch the opposition with the last line of defence, oftentimes drifting wide or dropping deep.
Gabriel Jesus, however, changed that up in the second half against Crystal Palace as he looked to run in behind the last line.
It worked for him and the team as they unlocked the visitors, though there was some fortune mixed in as well.
The Brazilian was seemingly offside for his second goal, but the official on the line didn’t end up flagging him off.
While Arsenal have often felt aggrieved by referee decisions and VAR this season, it’s one that they will feel has finally gone their way.
It has, however, sparked up debate once again surrounding why there isn’t any use of VAR at this stage of the EFL Cup.
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Why there was no VAR for Arsenal vs Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup
Given the stage of the competition, the stakes, and the teams involved, there was some surprise that VAR wasn’t in operation.
Not least for help with simple decisions such as the black-or-white nature of an offside decision that could cost a team dearly.
In this case, it helped Arsenal but hindered Crystal Palace, which many supporters won’t think twice about moving forward.
It has sparked some debate over the decision not to use VAR at this stage of the competition though, which has become rather controversial.
The EFL confirmed before the start of the competition that the use of that technology would only be in place from the semi-final onwards.
This was a similar case in the 2023/24 season, where VAR wasn’t used in the cup until the final at Wembley Stadium.
It may bring up questions of consistency with decisions, not least if Arsenal manage to get a VAR decision in their favour in the next round, which wouldn’t have been the case in any round before it.
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