Tomas Soucek must have breathed a huge sigh of relief after getting away with what looked like a blatant handball in West Ham's draw with Chelsea – and he soon saw the funny side of his stroke of luck.
With the scores level at 1-1 in the 89th minute at the London Stadium, Soucek clearly blocked Conor Gallagher's goal-bound shot using his hand inside the box, sparking vociferous appeals from the Blues players.
No penalty was given by referee Craig Pawson, and the decision stood following a VAR review.
Chelsea made it perfectly clear where they stood on the incident, though, tweeting: "Soucek makes a great save from Conor Gallagher."
Chelsea players thought they had a penalty for handball, but VAR says no… 📺 pic.twitter.com/popnClPiUjFebruary 11, 2023
And, speaking after the game, Soucek seemed to know that he'd got away with it big time. He told West Ham club media: "My father was a goalkeeper, so I did a save..."
The Czech midfielder – who came on for the injured Lucas Paqueta after 14 minutes – then burst out laughing.
Unsurprisingly, Chelsea boss Graham Potter was rather less amused about the decision not to award his side a penalty. He said:
"It looked quite a handball to me; I didn’t know Tomas could get down and save like that. It was a good save. You need your goalkeeper sometimes to get you points."
