Media balls: Aubameyang was onside and Everton were lucky
Media Balls: a look at biased reporting in the weekend’s Premier League match between Arsenal and Everton, won 2-0 by the Gunners. The Mirror calls Arsenal’s second goal, scored by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a “flipping disgrace”. The Arsenal striker was well offside when he received the ball before planting it neatly past Jordan Pickford. The Express leads with news that Everton manager Marco Silva was “left seething” following the offside goal. He was “livid” says the Sun on its front page. The paper concurs that Aubameyang was “a yard offside”. The Mail says the goal “should not have stood”.
On the Arsenal website, we’re told this: “Auba…finishes off a swift counter involving Ozil and Ramsey.”
Offside? Not a bit of it: “Lacazette started the move for the second, stealing the ball and sending Ozil free. The German broke into the box, looked to pick out Ramsey, but the ball was slightly behind him, where Aubameyang was lurking to tuck home his third goal of the week.”
And in the Islington Gazette – the local Arsenal newspaper: “Aubameyang doubled the lead after getting on the end of a sweeping move to make it 2-0 as Arsenal revealed their attacking power, even if Moss should have called offside earlier in the move.”
The Everton website and Liverpool Echo both says the goal was offside. Much bias in north London, then.
And by way of evening up the reporting, a little, there was that moment when Arsenal could / should have had a penalty. The Islington Gazette reports:
Aubameyang should have won a penalty after Jonjoe Kenny reacted to a header coming towards him by lifting his arm. Yes it was instinctive but the laws of the game make it clear that type of action should be penalised with a spot-kick.
The incident is neither mentioned on the Everton website nor the Echo’s.
Posted: 24th, September 2018 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
