US EditionEPL: Why VAR Cancelled Eze's Free-Kick Goal Against Chelsea
VAR officials ruled out Eze's goal after finding Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi was less than one metre from the Chelsea wall, enforcing free-kick wall distance laws.
- Eberechi Eze scored a powerful free-kick for Crystal Palace against Chelsea on August 17, 2025, at Stamford Bridge, but the goal was disallowed by VAR.
- VAR intervened because defender Marc Guehi was positioned too close to the Chelsea defensive wall at the moment the free-kick was executed, violating the required minimum distance.
- The referee Darren England confirmed the infringement to the crowd, explaining the goal was disallowed as an indirect free kick due to Guehi's position near the wall.
- Sky Sports commentator Chris Sutton called the decision 'scandalous', while Micah Richards acknowledged the rule was applied correctly despite VAR being seen as 'anti-goals'.
- The disallowed goal sparked debate about VAR's role and highlighted the need for attacking teams to consider this rule carefully in future matches.
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48 Articles
Chelsea and Crystal Palace clashed in the Premier League's first day match for both during the noon of yesterday. The match ended with a result of 0-0. However, it left a void goal that was not worth an infringement that does not usually occur, but that is collected as such according to the rules of the Football Federation.wf_cms.rss.read_more
The fact that the referee Eberechi Eze's free kick goal against Chelsea FC was denied, took Crystal Palace coach Oliver Glasner after the final whistle (0:0). "Last year we had a misjudged free kick goal in Brentford and lost. Today we had a misjudged free kick goal and played undecided. So it goes in the right direction, according to the 50-year-old Austrian.
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Crystal Palace's disallowed goal was everything that is wrong with VAR
Chelsea 0-0 Crystal PalaceSTAMFORD BRIDGE — Crystal Palace fans are pretty sick of technicalities.John Textor’s failure to follow the fine print of Uefa’s rules cost them a place in the Europa League last week, and Darren England’s decision to enforce a rarely-used rule on Sunday potentially cost them a first win over Chelsea for eight years.Eberechi Eze’s free-kick did hit the back of the net after just 13 minutes, so who knows what might have …
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