Shkodran Mustafi has revealed that he mistook teammate Sead Kolasinac for a Chelsea player during his offside goal on Sunday.

The German international had the ball in the back of the net against Chelsea on Sunday, but scored from an offside position. Replays showed that he had moved a split second too early.

Speaking about the incident, Mustafi said he thought he was onside because he had Sead Kolasinac standing behind him. “I saw someone behind me, so I thought I wasn’t offside,” he told Arsenal Player.

“I knew I started a bit early, but I know as a defender it’s hard to stay in one line, so you get some going early, some a bit later. I thought if I start a split-second early, I might get this advantage.

“I got it but unfortunately the man behind me was Sead and no one from the Chelsea team. I was really unhappy with that but it was offside.”

You’d think it’d be hard to mistake Kolasinac for anyone else. The fact he was wearing a bright red shirt and not a blue one might have also tipped him off. Still, strange things can happen in the heat of the moment.

After the ball went in, Mustafi wheeled away in celebration and was joined by an Arsenal fan. Both realised the goal was offside and moaned at the ref. While the fan was escorted away by stewards to applause from the Arsenal supporters, Mustafi continued his man-marking job of Alvaro Morata.

His performance was one of his better ones in an Arsenal shirt, despite playing most of the game on the edge, in my opinion. Morata did get away from him on a couple of occasions, but the likes of Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal were excellent on the cover.