Why Man City's Erling Haaland was awarded a penalty against Chelsea

More than a quarter of the match had elapsed and Erling Haaland's touch count stood at a mere six, one every four minutes.

Yet, Haaland didn't need to touch the ball to provoke the first spark in what had been a subdued opening between Manchester City and Chelsea on Sunday afternoon. Marc Cucurella didn't make contact with the ball either but was deemed to have touched Haaland a little too forcefully for Anthony Taylor's liking, conceding a first-half penalty which the Norwegian ruthlessly dispatched.

In the same week that Chelsea duked out one of the craziest - and most controversial - contests in recent Premier League history, the officials were again in the spotlight on Sunday.

Why was Erling Haaland awarded a penalty for Man City against Chelsea?

While City aimed their first thrust of the move down the left-hand side of Chelsea's box, Haaland began to tangle with Cucurella out of the referee's view. The ball was eventually aimed at the prolific number nine but Haaland tumbled to the turf.

Cucurella had an arm cradled under Haaland's stomach, theoretically providing enough contact for a modern-day penalty. However, replays showed that Haaland had initiated the grappling, pulling Cucurella's sleeve to propel himself in front of the defender who then desperately tried to rectify his forced misstep with an instinctive tug.

Jarred Gillett in the VAR room back at Stockley Park scrutinised the contact but didn't dwell on Haaland's first offence - much to Jamie Carragher's dismay on Sky Sports commentary.

The distant officials did scrub back even further to investigate a tangle which left Reece James on the turf but, without sending Anthony Taylor to the monitor, gave the all-clear. Ultimately, this must have fallen under the category of a decision that was not deemed to be "a clear and obvious error".

Earlier this very week, Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Gary O'Neil flagged this specific wording as one of VAR's flaws in a meeting with PGMOL chief Howard Webb. While the system is under review, there will be no changes to this specific mandate in the immediate future.

Reaction to Erling Haaland's penalty for Man City against Chelsea

Naturally, the decision quickly split the two faNBAses of each involved team. Chelsea's supporters cried outrage while onlookers of a City persuasion celebrated a goal that - in their view - didn't have any debate about it. However, plenty of neutrals were left perplexed by the officials' decision.

Others were more circumspect, recognising the fine margins in sport at the elite level.

Although, some people will never be pleased.

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