VAR saves Arsenal from self-inflicted disaster in Premier League title race as Gunners edge West Ham

A wild game in London saw the Gunners come out with a late 1-0 victory, keeping themselves in the driver's seat to win the league

James Benge

May 10, 2026

4:00 pm ET

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8 min read

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LONDON -- By god, they've gotten away with one here. If Arsenal do go on to win the league, it will have been in spite of what they did Sunday. Not just the goal they conceded at the death that never was -- Callum Wilson's strike ruled out after an agonizingly lengthy VAR check concluded that Pablo's arm had impeded David Raya -- but the numerous ways in which this team insisted on inflicting agony on itself and its supporters.

Mikel Arteta had mangled his substitutions after Ben White's early injury. Even with teams that vaguely approximated a normal XI, Arsenal had frittered away the control they had established for themselves in the first quarter. When the combined composure of Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard delivered them a lead, heads were dispatched beyond the moon, beyond Mars, beyond the known universe.

Arsenal set themselves up to blow it. For a moment, it appeared they had. A corner arrowed through Raya's hands. William Saliba's knee only diverted the ball to Wilson, who smacked the ball against Declan Rice, well inside the goal line. For a moment, West Ham thought they had a point to draw them level with Tottenham and safety. Then came a reassessment of the penalty area drama that seemed like it might never end. More than four minutes later came the conclusion that Pablo's arm had blocked off Raya. Seventeen replays at the monitor. The title might just have been saved for Arsenal by Chris Kavanagh and VAR Darren England, who might also have relegated West Ham too.

No wonder Arteta was so complimentary about the officiating team.

"When I have to be critical, I have been," he said. "And today, I have to praise them, at least for giving the option to a referee to decide. Away from the lights and the chaos, to give clarity to him to make the right call. And when you look at the action in that way, I think it is an obvious error.

"It is a free kick and the goal has to be disallowed. So congratulations because they made a big call in very, very difficult circumstances. Today I have realized how difficult and how big the referee's job is. You're talking about a moment that can decide the history of two massive clubs that are fighting with their lives to achieve their objectives. The pressure is huge."

Whether the five-minute check delivered the right decision is not something Arteta and Nuno Espirito Santo are ever certain to agree on. Nor is the rest of the world. Every fanbase can dig up that JPEG of that moment when they were done on a dead ball this season. Plenty of them will feel it is Arsenal who did the damage to them. Few will find occasions when a goalkeeper has been impeded from raising his arms in the direction of the ball without a foul being called. Ultimately, though, there are too many instances in this sport right now where big bodies smash into each other in a confined space and demand the officials get out the atom microscope.

"It's the lack of consistency in decisions," said Nuno Espirito Santo. "In these recent seasons, a lot of blocking, grappling, holding has been happening, almost like a wrestling situation. All of us don't really understand what a foul is. Even the referees confuse themselves. Sometimes it is, sometimes it's not.

"Look at every corner in the Premier League, what's happening? This. Everybody, us inclusive, are trying to do this but what is the frontier of what is a foul and what is not? It's up to the referees to try to dictate what is a foul, what is allowed and what is not. It feels like something has changed. Everyone feels confused. The players don't understand it. [The Premier League] has to solve it. They have to come to the clubs and explain it.

"Today we are upset and sad."

Of course, West Ham could have tried a different set piece but this Premier League and its likely champions exist as proof of the value of the corner that swings into a pile of bodies and unleashes chaos.

There is no little irony that had it not been for Arteta, Nicolas Jover and a few progenitors at Brentford and Midtjylland, Pablo might not have been in position to block Raya off. What was he doing if not playing the Ben White role of professional irritant? Would there have been 16 players in the six-yard box if Gabriel, Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice hadn't been obliterating the league from dead balls for the last few years? What was this denouement of the season if not one meat wall set piece deciding who ascends to heaven and who is cursed to he the Championship?

Having been consistently dinged for it in Europe, Arsenal themselves have gravitated away from the more blatant blocking of the goalkeeper with one of their own that they deployed a few years ag