Professional Game Match Officials Board chief Mike Riley feels Sokratis Papastathopoulos’ goal against Crystal Palace should have stood, according to reports.

There’s no doubt Arsenal blew their opportunity to beat Crystal Palace in late October, having been 2-0 ahead only to allow the away side back into the game. All the same, they thought they’d scored the winner when Sokratis fired home with minutes to go.

The goal was then ruled out by the VAR officials for a “foul” by Calum Chambers that looked as much of an infringement on the Arsenal player than anyone else.

The Daily Mail write that in his meetings with Premier League managers and shareholders PGMOL head Mike Riley admitted he believes the goal should have stood, and VAR shouldn’t have intervened.

Riley suggested mistakes like that are just part of the process of getting the best possible video review system in place though.

“The worst outcome is when the referee on the field makes the right decision and the VAR intervenes to make the wrong decision,” Riley said. “It will happen. That is part of the balance of understanding what is clear and obvious.

“Look at any country that has put in VAR, everyone has to go through a learning curve. We are going through that now.”

It’s just a shame for Arsenal that they won’t be able to get those two lost points back. Perhaps their performance didn’t earn all three on the day, but if the VAR officials had made the correct calls they would have won them anyway.