Jamie Carragher: David Raya was fouled vs West Ham - some people just don't want Arsenal to win the Premier League title
Jamie Carragher on questions about Chris Kavanagh ruling out Callum Wilson's equaliser for West Ham vs Arsenal: "The reason there's been so much uproar about it, is there are a lot of people who don't want Arsenal to win the league"
Monday 11 May 2026 21:29, UK
Jamie Carragher believes only people who don't want Arsenal to win the Premier League title have an issue with the VAR call to rule out the Hammers' equaliser against Arsenal on Sunday.
In a call already labelled the biggest in VAR history by Sky Sports colleague Gary Neville, referee Chris Kavanagh and VAR official Darren England worked together to rule out Callum Wilson's last-gasp goal at the London Stadium, which had huge ramifications at the top and bottom of the table.
A point for West Ham would have kept them in the relegation zone but moved them level with 17th-placed Tottenham at the time. It would also have partially put the title race back in Manchester City's hands and given them the chance to move level on points with Arsenal at the top - and put goal difference back in the equation to decide where the Premier League trophy ends up in a fortnight's time.
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The decision has caused consternation and discussion throughout football circles in the 24 hours since it was made - but speaking on Monday Night Football, Carragher laid out the case for the defence of the officials, who took four minutes and 17 seconds to rule out Wilson's goal....
Carra: There are a lot of people who don't want Arsenal to win the league
Forget the clear and obvious bit. It took that long because there were so many things to look at.
The pressure on this decision, what it meant, not only for these two clubs but for Man City, for Tottenham, in a situation like that I don't think anyone should complain how long it took.
Did they get to the right decision? Yes.
There's two sets of people who thought that wasn't a foul. The people who have an association with Man City or West Ham, or people who don't want Arsenal to win the league.
The reason there's been so much uproar about it, is there are a lot of people who don't want Arsenal to win the league.
What we saw yesterday was something we've seen every week in the Premier League. This all started with Arsenal, two or three years ago, putting 15 people in the six-yard box.
This is a football club, whether you like it or not, who push the boundaries in every area to try to gain an advantage.
The manager stands on the edge of the touchline, putting the opposition's left-winger or right-back off. Gabriel going down every time someone breathes on him.
And on set-pieces. So that's why there's this feeling they're doing this every week, how have they got away with it?
But that doesn't mean it's not a foul. It is a foul.
Is there holding in the box? Is there pulling jerseys? Yes. Of course there is. Leandro Trossard has his arm around Pablo there, and he's the one who ends up making the foul on the goalkeeper.
But I've been in that situation. Is it enough for a penalty? For me, no.
Declan Rice ends up with his arms around Mavropanos. It doesn't look great, but would I want a penalty given against me for that? I don't think those are going to get given.
The reason this is a foul on the goalkeeper, whether you like it or not, you could argue about the shirt tug [from Raya] but the big difference is what comes next.
Pablo was getting held by Trossard, but it's not the arm on him, it's the grip. It's the holding. If it was in the air, flailing, I'd probably say it's not a foul.
But you can't grab a goalkeeper on the arm and stop them from raising their hand. That can't happen.
People are crying, today, on social media - everywhere - 'Arsenal get away with this everywhere'. I don't think they do.
I look at these situations, and look at why people are disgruntled, because Arsenal push the boundaries.
You look back at the Man Utd game on the opening weekend for the winner, Saliba's backing into the Altindir, making it really difficult. You could stop a still and say look where his arm is. But when it carries on, he's not really stopping him.
There's another one in December when they beat Aston Villa 4-1. Gabriel was backing into the goalkeeper. Did he elbow him? Maybe he caught him, but the goalkeeper should still do better.
What is the same as Sunday is what happened three years ago at Leicester. Ben White, at Leicester, had a grip on the goalkeeper's glove. He then hooks in and makes sure he can't lift his right arm up. Arsenal got the ball back, Leandro Trossard put it in, and the goal was disallowed.
So this idea that they're getting away with it, they're not.
They push the boundaries as far as they can, they're the best on set-pieces, and when they do what happened there, they get pulled up on it.
Since they lost at Man City, they've been all about clean sheets. We've said consistently that the attacking players won't win them the league, it's going to be the goalkeepers, the two centre-backs and Declan Rice. The only goal they have conceded in the last five games is a penalty.
