Premier League hope to bring in new technology – but it is unlikely to stop repeat of freak goal Arsenal conceded

THE Premier League hope to bring in new technology next season — but it is unlikely to stop a repeat of Arsenal’s two line-call controversies.

Gunners manager Mikel Arteta demanded a better VAR system as his side were hit by another millimetre ruling in the 2-0 home defeat by West Ham on Thursday night.

Getty

The Premier League hopes to bring in new technology after West Ham’s controversial goal[/caption]

Tomas Soucek’s opener stood after a delay of three minutes and 22 seconds as there was no technology available to conclusively rule if the ball was out of play when Jarrod Bowen crossed.

Arsenal were also on the wrong end of a similar call at Newcastle last month which left  Arteta labelling VAR “embarrassing” and “a disgrace”, leading to an FA charge that was later dismissed.

The Premier League are looking at introducing robot linesmen next term and are trialling different semi-automated systems which will reduce the time of offside VAR decisions and remove the need for humans to draw lines.

PGMOL chief Howard Webb recently stated the trials will be run for the rest of the season, with plans presented to the 20 clubs in the summer.

The technology uses 12 dedicated tracking cameras mounted underneath the roof of the stadium to track the ball and up to 29 data points of each individual player, 50 times per second, calculating their exact position.

While there is already goal-line technology, it is  more complicated to have a similar system  along the lines of the entire pitch to avoid a repeat of Arsenal’s two incidents.

Even so, the Premier League are not ruling out the possibility and will continue to explore all options to avoid high-profile flashpoints.

Yet like the game at Newcastle, when VAR was unable to rule conclusively whether Chris Willock had not kept the ball in play, the goal involving Bowen was seen as a freak.

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This was because the West Ham forward’s body, along with a post of the goal, were blocking clear views of the cameras.

The Fifa system — developed by Munich-based Kinexon — uses a full version which includes a microchip in the ball.

But it was only designed to work only with an Adidas ball, while the Prem has a long-term Nike deal.

AFP

Mikel Arteta was left enraged by the decision to award the goal[/caption]