Arsenal have lucky escape as Sadio Mane goal is wrongly disallowed

The Liverpool forward opened the scoring in the first half, only to see his strike ruled out for offside

Arsenal benefited from a lucky escape in the first half of their Premier League clash against Liverpool as the officials wrongly ruled out Sadio Mane's early goal. The Senegal forward was played in by Roberto Firmino at the Emirates Stadium but, after slotting home from close range, his celebrations were cut short by the assistant's flag. However, TV replays showed that the goal should have counted, as Mane checked his run to remain behind the ball when Firmino squared it across the box. The 26-year-old had strayed beyond the Arsenal defence in the previous phase of play, but remained inactive as Trent Alexander-Arnold's pass fell to Firmino. And according to the laws of the game, the forward remained on-side as the move progressed by ensuring that he stayed behind the ball as the following image shows. Arsenal will have counted themselves fortunate to go in level at the interval after Liverpool enjoyed the better of the first half, with Virgil van Dijk hitting the post immediately before half time. Mane's disallowed strike was the major talking point, with many fans reviving calls for the Premier League to follow other major leagues and introduce VAR. https://twitter.com/MHChehade/status/1058780277638656003 https://twitter.com/JCuzzy1/status/1058787036017188867 https://twitter.com/OvieO/status/1058787163821785088 https://twitter.com/FootballJOE/status/1058778605772259328