New Neco Williams Footage Adds Detail to Contested VAR Handball Call

New video footage appears to show the ball making contact with both of Neco Williams' arms before his disallowed goal for Nottingham Forest against Tottenham, BBC Sport reports. The additional angle emerged after Saturday's 0-0 Premier League draw at the City Ground, where the second-half decision became the match's central controversy.

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The incident began when Morgan Gibbs-White's deflected effort moved toward goal and Tottenham's Sandro Tonali attempted to clear it. Williams stooped at close range and bundled the ball over the line while raising his arms near his head. Referee Craig Pawson initially awarded a goal, but video assistant referee Peter Bankes reviewed the play and recommended an on-field check. Pawson then ruled the goal out.

The Premier League Match Centre said VAR determined that Williams handled the ball immediately before scoring. After the monitor review, the referee announced that the ball had touched the Nottingham Forest defender's hand and restarted play with a direct free-kick to Tottenham. Sky Sports' newly published angles provide a clearer view of the contact than some of the replays shown immediately after the incident.

Williams disputed the decision after the match. Speaking to Sky Sports, the Wales international maintained that he had headed the ball between his arms and argued that the available images did not clearly establish handball. He also said freezing the footage could create a misleading impression of the contact.

Forest head coach Oliver Glasner raised a related objection about the standard for intervention. The Guardian reported that Glasner watched five or six angles and accepted that one could suggest contact, but believed the evidence was insufficient to overturn the on-field call. He said the video official had effectively guessed, pointing to pre-season guidance that the threshold for intervention should be high.

The fresh footage strengthens the factual case that the ball touched Williams' arms, but it does not by itself establish which views were available to the officials at the time or settle the argument over whether the review process met the required threshold. The overturned goal left the game scoreless. According to Sky Sports, Tottenham failed to score in their opening three league matches of a season for the first time since 1974, while Forest were denied what could have been the winner.