Alan Shearer and Ian Wright disagreed over Arsenal's opening goal against Fulham on Sunday, with former Newcastle striker Shearer claiming there was a reason the referee could have ruled it out.
Mikel Arteta's Gunners struck three times in the first half at Craven Cottage, with Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all on target. The result kept the leaders five points clear at the top of the Premier League table, while they were also able to call upon Gabriel Jesus for the first time in 2023 after his recent injury.
Arsenal saw a goal chalked off in their recent win over Leicester when Ben White was ruled to have impeded the opponents' goalkeeper. There were echoes of the same offence in west London, but former Gunners favourite Wright didn't believe there was enough of an offence for Gabriel's goal to be ruled out.
"It wouldn’t have surprised me [to see the goal disallowed] because Ben White is actually blocking the goalkeeper," Shearer told Premier League Productions (via Metro ). "By the time he actually unblocks him it’s too late for the keeper to make a decision whether he’s going to come or not.
"The ball is already in the air, it’s practically in the six-yard box. He might not have come for it, or he may have, but that option was taken away from him because of the blocking there.
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"It’s a good ball in, it’s a good header, but he is blocking him right up to the very last second, Ben White, so it wouldn’t have surprised me [if it was ruled out]. Having said that, it wouldn’t have changed anything today because Arsenal were much better than them."
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Wright, however, wasn't so sure. Indeed, he suggested Arsenal set up in the way they did because they were familiar with Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who was previously the Gunner's number one.
"They’ve probably trained with him a lot and know what he’s about in terms of coming for crosses," the 59-year-old said. "I always thought that he was pretty weak with crosses.
"And even getting blocked in by Ben White, who’s not actually really physically holding him. He’s just kind of in the way. He could just move him out the way. You [eventually] see him move him, but he should have done that ages before.
"He should not have let him get in front because if he does that the referee would see that there’s interference and he probably would have maybe given a foul. We’ve seen how easily they do give fouls against goalkeepers.
"But I think with Bernd Leno that’s his main weakness, he doesn’t want to come into that area. I think Ben White used his experience in that respect."
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