There was a crucial moment in Chelsea’s game against Aston Villa, as the Blues pushed for a second goal which would likely have sealed a win, when a floated Alejandro Garnacho cross hit Ian Maatsen’s arm on his blind side, deflected the ball away from Pedro Neto as he stretched to get onto it just in front of goal.
If the ball doesn’t hit the arm, the winger almost certainly touches it is. Maatsen didn’t know much about it, but his arm was up and the ball hit it, and that touch changed the course of the action and possibly the game.
Sky Sports admit Villa defender “lucky” to not give penalty away
“It’s a tough one because I can understand what Maatsen’s done here… he’s lucky. Because Neto is there to put it in the back of the net. I think you have to give that as a penalty,” Jay Bothroyd said on Sky as a pundit looking back at the weekend’s decisions.
“His arm doesn’t look in a natural position, does it?”
That ball went a long way, and even if it was accidental, it had such an effect on the outcome of the play that it just has to be given. We don’t want to blame refs, but they got this one wrong.
You can see the footage of the incident in the clip embedded here and make your own mind up:
"I can understand what Maatsen's doing here… he's lucky, you have to give that as a penalty!"
Ref Watch discuss whether Chelsea should have been awarded a spot-kick against Aston Vila. pic.twitter.com/HoOxvLNCmk
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 29, 2025
In other news…
We wrote before kick off that Maresca was taking a risk by picking Badiashile over Wesley Fofana, and so it proved when the Frenchman made a crucial mistake.
You can blame Maresca for picking Badiashile, as we have here. But in the end it was also the defender’s error which cost us, and the pattern of him making them is pretty inescapable now.
