56,500 were in attendance to the only recorded moment in history when fans, management and players pleaded for VAR to be clear and obvious.
At mid-day, deep in the control room at Stockley Park, a lonely VAR official put on his headset,and settled in for his afternoon shift.
Chelski went 1-0 up after 9 minutes and it looked like another 3 points for Chelsea and a season defining defeat for Arsenal.
The second half kicked off and suddenly, Stina Blackstenius was everywhere — pressing, chasing, and scaring Chelsea’s backline like a caffeine-fuelled seagull. Kim Little was running the midfield like she owned the Emirates, and Katie McCabe… well, Katie was being Katie, somewhere between a wonder goal and a street fighter.
In the 54th min, Stina met a corner with perfect control on her thigh and buried the ball in the bottom corner. The ref then, for some inexplicable reason, blew for handball and disallowed the goal.
In Stockley Park, the VAR official was screaming into his mike, but to no avail, no-one in The Emirates could hear and the goal stayed chalked off.
Russo pulled it back to 1-1 in 87th minute and Arsenal were running riot, then, with 90 minutes on the clock, Frida executed a perfect break of the Chavs offside trap, found the bottom corner and wheeled away in ecstasy, only for the officials to again cut short the celebrations with a ridiculous offside intervention.
“No fear”, murmured the crowd, “VAR will stop this stupidity and set this right.”
The crowd again, waited with baited breath for VAR to kick in and stop this travesty. But again, nothing, crickets from Mission Control.
Back at Stockley Park, things were definitely heard. The kicking of chairs, the slamming of doors and the VAR official screaming ‘Fcuk this, if you don’t want to listen to me, I’m going to the pub.”
The game finished 1-1, Chelsea kept hold of their unbeaten streak, the fans left confused and Renee Slegers departed, fuming at VAR winning, again.
English by birth, Australian by choice. Traffic Engineer, Arsenal ST Holder, Sun DreamTeam Winner, Writer on @GunnersTown, Depeche Mode, Welcome to my world…
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