VAR green-lights Eze as Arsenal boss the derby narrative

Arsenal seized the first north London derby of the 2025/26 season by the scruff, with Leandro Trossard and Eberechi Eze striking before the break and the visitors left fuming over what they felt was a blocked view for Guglielmo Vicario. The Premier League has now spelt out why the on-field decision to award Eze’s 41st-minute goal was upheld.

The key moments: Trossard opens, Eze doubles

After a cagey opening half-hour, Mikel Merino – deployed as an unorthodox spearhead – clipped a clever ball into the channel and Trossard lashed home first time on 36 minutes. Five minutes later, Declan Rice threaded Eze in; a shuffle of the hips sent two Spurs defenders the wrong way before his right-footer fizzed through a forest of legs and beyond Vicario.

The complaint? With red shirts dotted around the six-yard area, Spurs argued the keeper’s sightline was blocked. Eze would go on to strike again soon after half-time to give Arsenal further daylight, but it’s his first that sparked the row.

What VAR and the Premier League saw

Referee Michael Oliver’s on-field call of goal was checked in the booth. The Premier League’s Match Centre later clarified that officials judged no Arsenal player to be directly in Vicario’s line of vision at the moment of the strike, and that any teammates in advanced positions didn’t make movements that impacted a defender or the goalkeeper. In short: no offside offence, so the goal stands.

For those poring over the laws – and for readers sizing up form on the best betting sites – here’s the nub: VAR backed the referee because there was no clear interfering action and no proven line-of-sight block by an offside teammate at the critical moment.

Vicario’s angle and the pundit chorus

Vicario made his feelings plain, gesturing that he couldn’t see through the bodies. On co-comms, Gary Neville noted that the incident had been reviewed and any thought of overturning was dismissed. At the break, Spurs great Les Ferdinand expressed surprise the goal wasn’t chalked off, while Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher weighed the fine margins around line of vision versus active interference.

Consistency and the law

This is Law 11 territory: being in an offside position is not an offence by itself; an offence comes if you interfere with play or an opponent – which includes blocking the keeper’s view. We’ve seen similar situations recently where a finish was wiped because an offside teammate stood directly in the goalkeeper’s eyeline and made an obvious action. Here, the officials decided the nearby Gunners were either level, onside, or not affecting the play in a way that crossed the threshold.

Arsenal’s derby habit

One for the statheads: Arsenal have now scored in each of their last 27 Premier League home clashes with Tottenham, netting at least twice in the last nine of those. That tells you this fixture brings out Arsenal’s front-foot instincts – and Eze, having chosen red over lilywhite in the summer of 2025, looked right at home amid the chaos.

Bottom line: you can argue aesthetics all you like, but by the letter and spirit of the current guidance, the decision to let Eze’s first-half strike stand was entirely within the framework VAR is asked to apply.