Michail Antonio vents at VAR as West Ham stun Chelsea: 'I really dislike it!'

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Matt Davies1 July 2020

Michail Antonio admitted he "really dislikes" VAR after West Ham stunned Chelsea in a 3-2 victory at the London Stadium.

The Hammers came into the game in 17th place in the Premier League table, level on points with Aston Villa in 18th and desperately fighting to avoid the drop.

And while they eventually battled to a hard-fought - and crucial - victory, fortune appeared to be favouring the visitors in the first half.

West Ham thought they'd taken the lead with Thomas Soucek bundling home from a corner, only for a highly controversial VAR to decision to rule it out for offside.

Antonio - who was floored in between Soucek, the ball and the goal - was adjudged to have obstructed Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga's line of sight, with VAR signalling a free-kick to be taken after three minutes of deliberation.

Chelsea quickly found themselves in front, with Willian scoring from the spot after the in-form Christian Pulisic was brought down in the box.

Ultimately the incident didn't matter in the end as Antonio and Andriy Yarmolenko struck either side of a Willian free-kick after the break to seal a priceless win - but Antonio couldn't help but vent his frustration.

"It is massive. I just, man, there's been so many games," Antonio told Sky Sports.

"There's been so many games when we were so close and they were taken away from us. To go a goal down, bring it back to 2-2 and then get the third just shows that we will keep fighting until the end.

"I really dislike VAR, I really dislike it! This season it has gone against us so many times but today it didn't stop us. We went on to get that victory.

"I don't understood," he added. "Matteo Kovacic flicked the ball and then I don't really understand it? We won the game so it doesn't matter. We move on to the next game."

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