Premier League make official statement after VAR flashpoint in Tottenham v Bournemouth
Tottenham battled to a 2-2 draw against Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday, with plenty of controversy throughout.
Ange Postecoglou’s side came back from two behind to secure a point against the Cherries, with Son Heung-min’s penalty being the leveller.
Bournemouth thought they had scored another in the 52nd minute, but VAR disallowed a Justin Kluivert strike due to Antoine Semenyo being offside in the build-up.
Bournemouth denied goal through VAR
Bournemouth always looked more likely to score, with their blistering counter-attack a real weapon.
It’s always a terrible time to concede just before the break and that continued against Tottenham going into the second-half, and it nearly got worse.
| Team | Possession | Shots | Shots on target |
| Tottenham | 61% | 7 | 4 |
| Bournemouth | 39% | 12 | 8 |
The Cherries continued to look on top after the break and thought they had scored just seven minutes into the half through Kluivert.
After VAR intervened, the Premier League released an official statement to support that call.
The Premier League Match Centre confirmed the reasoning via X, writing: “VAR checked the referee’s call of goal – and established that Semenyo was in an offside position in the build-up and recommended that the goal was disallowed.”
The disallowed goal didn’t stop Bournemouth from scoring again as they doubled their lead in the 65th minute, before Spurs made it 2-1 through Pape Matar Sarr just two minutes later.
Tottenham let off by Bournemouth offside
VAR is known for its controversial decisions that get supporters talking but this certainly wasn’t one of those calls as the goal was rightly disallowed.
Semenyo was stood well offside as the ball was played through to him and it was pretty lazy from the Bournemouth man who should have got himself in a stronger position to help his side score.
From a Spurs point of view though, it was an excellent bit of work as they caught their opponent out to ensure he could not make it back in line.
The goal being disallowed should have given the home side the kick that the Cherries weren’t resting on the goal they already had but Postecoglou’s men failed to take note, conceding again not long after.
However, with a Sarr goal, that was a cross before it went in off the post, followed by a Son penalty, Postecoglou’s side were able to gain a point from the game.
The performance showed there’s still plenty of work to be done in North London but a point against Bournemouth is not a bad result, especially coming from behind.