VAR asleep: Brighton defender stopped Hudson-Odoi’s pass on the 2-v-1 with his hand!

If you’re looking for more things to be aggrieved about from last night’s 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion at Stamford Bridge, you’re in luck because have I got a treat for you!

Remember that 2-v-1 for Callum Hudson-Odoi? You know, the one where he decided to pass square to Mason Mount for a tap-in instead of going at it alone for a great, though not nearly as nailed-on chance? Of course you do. It was the biggest chance of several big chances and opportunities wasted by Chelsea on the night.

Well, as it turns out, it was also one of the several egregious refereeing decisions on the night. Bonus!

Hudson-Odoi didn’t [FUN] up as badly as we all thought he did. While he probably still should’ve had the confidence/ego/belief in his own ability to take the chance 1-v-1 with the goalkeeper, his pass to Mount was actually good enough ... until it was stopped by the defender’s hand!

And we all missed this — except for Mount, who appealed, but that fell on deaf and blind ears and eyes.

WATCH:

Callum’s pass goes between the legs of the defender, where it might or might not take a slight deflection, but is actually stopped by the defender’s left hand as he stoops/stumbles in his effort to block. From the TV angle it looked like a legal play. From the referee’s vantage point, trailing 25 yards behind, it probably looked fine as well.

Good thing we’ve got this fancy video review technology so that blatant, game-changing calls like this aren’t missed, right?

(Then again, VAR didn’t think the kick on Pulisic was worthy of a penalty either, so he probably would’ve turned a blind eye to this one as well.)

Chelsea should have and maybe could have played better. Or we simply could have just been given the two penalties and maybe a review on the supposed Mount “foul” at the end, from which we also scored.