Mark Noble was left frustrated after West Ham missed the chance to climb to third following the 2-1 defeat by Crystal Palace.
The Hammers were leading through a Sebastien Haller goal – set up by a fine eight-man move – but were pegged back by Patrick Van Aanholt’s penalty after Declan Rice handled in the area.
Then, with three minutes remaining, Jordan Ayew’s goal was ruled out for offside, only for VAR to overturn the decision and give Palace all three points.
Hammers skipper Noble said: “Palace are a really good side. They made it difficult for us. They’ve got some good players, but we should have definitely scored in the first half with the chances that we had.
“We didn’t play as well as we can do, but we scored a really good goal and the we then got two massive decisions that went against us, which was frustrating,
“Sometimes they go for you, sometimes they go against you, but it seemed as though everything went against us.
“With the handball, I don’t think Dec knew anything about it. Then the offside decision was millimetres, so it’s very frustrating.
“After we got the breakthrough, everything went against us.”
Ayew had to wait for more than two minutes to celebrate his third goal of the season.
VAR checked both his position when he prodded the ball home, and that of Martin Kelly who nodded down Andros Townsend’s cross.
“Sometimes you need a bit of luck and I think we deserved three points,” Ayew told Palace TV.
“It was a tight game but we’re lucky and we’ll take it.”
‘After Manchester City’s recent form, maybe they’re the underdogs against Manchester United!’ Former Red Devils defender on this weekend’s derby
‘Arteta, Alonso, Emery, me… none of us were physical players – we needed the understanding of the game. That probably helped us move into management’: Premier League boss reveals reasons for natural career progression
