He took the ball with him. United players celebrated what they believed to be an obvious goal. But the referee, Michael Oliver, waved play on, dismissing protests by pointing to his watch to indicate it had not buzzed to confirm all of the ball had crossed the line. Moments later the referee blew for an infringement against Villa – and that brought an end to the passage of play, which is why, according to the Premier League, the decision was not allowed to be referred to VAR. The exasperation was plain on the faces of United staff watching on a monitor on the sidelines. Until that point the game had been tight and mildly diverting.
It was also an embarrassment the Premier League should have avoided in possibly its most anticipated fixture ever. It came just before half-time in a match of impressively high intensity and, if it had been permitted, it would have given Sheffield United a lead as they tried to climb to fifth in the table and plunged Villa deeper into relegation trouble. Ollie Norwood fizzed an inswinging free-kick from the left wing and the home goalkeeper, Ørjan Nyland, stretched to catch it but his momentum sent him backpedaling over the goalline and crashing into the side-netting.
Sheffield United denied by goalline technology as Aston Villa earn pointHow heartening after three-months of lockdown, death and strife to have something so trivial to argue over as a disallowed goal. Welcome back, Premier League. Of course the key detail here was not trivial in a football sense and, actually, there is no argument about whether the goal should have stood: the ball definitely crossed the line, the problem arose because the reputedly infallible goalline technology failed. Given the strangeness of this match’s context, it was a fittingly odd development.
Of course it was not the same as before. The first thing you noticed was what was missing. This was the Premier League Unplugged. No giddy throngs enlivened the stands before kick-off, no chanters or hawkers or hoopla. Nor even much chat. Just a drib-drab of club staffers and journalists, all waiting for the emergence of two squads of players who hoped to perform like superstars in a setting halfway between a Sunday League wilderness and a top-end film studio. By the time the players emerged for their warm-ups, the thunder and rain above Villa Park had subsided and the sun pierced the clouds to spread a little light. Which, ultimately, is also what the football was here to do. The Premier League returns at Villa Park in front of empty stands.
Smith made some bold choices with his team selection, including the decision to pick Nyland in goal ahead of Pepe Reina. He also gave a first league start to Keinan Davis up front, deployed Ezri Konsa at right-back in a four-man defence and gave the fit-again John McGinn a first appearance for six months. Chris Wilder, meanwhile, saw his continuity plans sabotaged by injuries to Jack O’Connell and John Fleck. The former was replaced by Jack Robinson, appearing in the league for the first time since joining United for free in January. Davis made life uncomfortable for the visiting defenders as Villa started strongly.
Aston Villa vs Sheffield United live stream: How to watch 17 Jun 2020 — Aston Villa host Sheffield United in the Premier League this evening and Express Sport is on hand with all the live stream information.
