Alan Shearer tears into VAR again as Arsenal told Eberechi Eze goal mistake was made

Eberechi Eze was the main man for Arsenal in the North London Derby, but the midfielder's first goal should have been ruled out for offside, according to Alan Shearer.

Alan Shearer has criticised the match officials for allowing Eberechi Eze's first goal to stand in the North London Derby. The 27-year-old midfielder put Arsenal 2-0 up against Tottenham Hotspur shortly before the interval, firing his shot through a mass of players into the bottom corner.

Despite the best efforts of Micky van de Ven and Kevin Danso, neither defender could stop Eze's strike from reaching its target. Martin Zubimendi and Leandro Trossard were positioned behind that Spurs duo, but were deemed not to have impacted play or obstructed Guglielmo Vicario from an offside position.

Michael Oliver allowed the goal to stand. Video Assistant Referee, Stuart Attwell, and his colleague, Constantine Hatzidakis, reviewed the incident at Stockley Park before confirming the on-field decision.

Alongside Gary Lineker and Micah Richards on latest The Rest Is Football podcast, Shearer condemned the officials, suggesting they were 'petrified' to make the right decision. The Newcastle United legend said: "This first one should have been offside.

"I don't know what you think, Micah. I just honestly think that the referees and the VAR have got themselves in such a pickle with this situation. I thought they were petrified to give the correct decision.

"He should have been offside. There's no way those guys in front of him weren't directly in the line of sight of the goalkeeper. Therefore, it was clearly offside.

"Yet because of what's gone on, with the Forest goal, with what happened with Liverpool at Man City, they were petrified of making the decision, and they just panicked and they got the wrong decision."

Shearer added: "It was a good job it didn't make that much of a difference but, if it had, then you could imagine the backfire that would have happened. It was offside, but it was still a great strike."

Richards also criticised the match officials. The former Manchester City star said: "We keep saying, 'consistency' and all those things, but it either is (offside) or it isn't. If someone's in front of the goalkeeper - the one against Man City with [Virgil] van Dijk, that should have stood, shouldn't it?

"But, someone made an obvious attempt to play the ball, so you would say that it is affecting the judgment of the goalkeeper because he's moving. But if you're in an offside position and you're in front of the goalkeeper, why don't they just give it offside?

"It would be easy for them to just say; 'That's offside', because then you don't get; 'Should it', 'Was it', 'I'm not sure about it', They're just making it more difficult for themselves."

Shearer replied: "I honestly think they have panicked. I think they've panicked and thought if we give that offside, the criticism we're going to get again but, really, that would have been the right decision. They've just made such a mess of the last couple of weeks with those decisions."

Lineker weighed in on the debate, suggesting that referees are overcomplicating decisions. The former Match of the Day host said: "When I played if you were offside, you were offside. That was it.

"I don't know whether that would be better or worse for the actual game. But, at the minute, they're trying to be so specific, with not just offside but also handballs, this and that."