Premier League confirm stance on latest Everton VAR chaos and Michael Oliver decision

In controversial circumstances, referee Michael Oliver overruled VAR to allow Arsenal’s late winner against Everton.

Minutes before the end of a hard-fought match in north London, Kai Havertz prodded his team into the lead, but the opposition questioned whether the goal should stand after it struck Gabriel Jesus’ arm during the build-up.
Oliver was called to the pitchside monitor to reconsider his decision to let play continue, but he chose not to overturn the initial call—a rare decision since the Premier League adopted VAR.

Sean Dyche, who has frequently lamented the certainty of decisions being altered once the on-field official is sent to the screen, was aware of that. The Blues manager commented, “Funny how it is in a title race and it goes the other way,” in reference to Oliver breaking the pattern at the Emirates.

As stoppage time drew near, Ashley Young’s misplaced ball was intercepted by Jesus’ arm, drawing Everton level at 1. The striker for Arsenal broke and found Martin Odegaard, whose shot Jordan Pickford parried, but it fell into Havertz’s path, who finished from a distance.

Pickford and his teammates protested the goal, and it appeared that VAR would reverse the decision when it came in. Although Oliver was satisfied with his initial call, the ECHO understands that he was called to the monitor to assess whether Jesus had purposefully handled. Conversely, Dyche was left on the touchline, laughing in shock.
“We are all worried about handball, we are not quite sure where it lives,” he said when asked about his thoughts on the decision made following the game. That seems like a pretty obvious one to me; they approach the monitor and, ironically, it turns around during a title race. Ultimately, we are all concerned about handball because we don’t know where it originates. That seems like a hard one to argue against. They score when he runs through the handball that is directly in his path. I have to have that one given to me.