Controversial: VAR may have made clear CPFC error at Selhurst Park - opinion

Crystal Palace fans may be left furious with a key decision made in their opening day defeat on Friday night after footage was shared on Twitter. 

Patrick Vieira’s men fell to his former side in the curtain-raiser for the Premier League as the 2-0 defeat at Selhurst Park saw Arsenal seal the points.

Gabriel Martinelli opened the scoring for the Gunners in the first half and an own goal from Marc Guehi late on shut off any hope of a comeback in south London.

However, there may be some frustrations coming from the Palace fans after a handball appeal against centre-half Gabriel Magalhaes in the opening 45 minutes left the officials unmoved.

With the ball shot up into the air, the Brazilian centre-half was unable to clear and instead saw the ball flick off his right arm before being cleared from danger.

TIF Thoughts on the footage…

We think Palace fans will have the right to feel hard done by with this decision given Gabriel’s arm was not down by his side and there was clear contact between his arm and the ball.

Palace endured an onslaught from the Gunners in the early stages of the game, but had this incident been awarded in their favour, it would’ve provided them with the opportunity to draw level.

Although we do not believe Gabriel intended to handle the ball, it was clumsy from the centre-back who watched the ball fall from the air, and for us, that should have been enough to convince VAR to award a penalty.

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