'Obvious' - How Man City benefitted from VAR blunder in Premier League win over Fulham

Nathan Ake's controversial goal for Manchester City against Fulham should have been ruled out, admits Howard Webb.

Ake headed City into a 2-1 lead against Fulham in the weekend Premier League clash but Manuel Akanji was standing in an offside position. Fulham complained he was obstructing goalkeeper Bernd Leno, who seemed to hesitate before diving in case the ball flicked off the City man.

But referee Michael Oliver awarded the goal and VAR Tony Harrington confirmed the call with help from his assistant Adam Nunn. Fulham boss Marco Silva was angry with the decision while City striker Erling Haaland, who went on to score a hat-trick as the Blues won 5-1, said he thought the goal should have been ruled out.

ALSO READ: Why Man City's crucial second goal vs Fulham should have been overturned

And Webb admitted the decision was wrong. Speaking on ‘Match Officials Mic’d Up’ on Sky Sports on Tuesday, which showed some of the key VAR decisions that have been made in the opening month of the top flight, he said: “From the outset, I want to say this should have been disallowed.

“These are not always easy to call because you are trying to get two pieces of information together. Is the player in an offside position, which official is in a good position to see, and what consequence was there of the player being in that position and how it impacts the opponents?

“It certainly appears that Akanji has an impact on Bernd Leno, the goalkeeper seems to hesitate. The officials on the field gave the goal, they did not see the obvious action that impacted Leno’s ability to play the ball.

“They did not feel it was clearly impactful on Leno’s ability to play the ball but when you see it, you can see that hesitation by the goalkeeper who was