Why VAR couldn’t rule out Chelsea goal vs Wolves despite breaking rule

Cole Palmer scored Chelsea’s second goal against Wolves as the England man expertly lofted the ball over Jose Sa – though moments before Blues keeper Robert Sanchez took his kick from the restart while the ball was still rolling

VAR was unable to rule out Chelsea’s second goal against Wolves due to a strange rule that forbids the technology from checking restarts.

The Blues – who won 6-2 at Molineux – opened the scoring through Nicolas Jackson before Matheus Cunha levelled – with Cole Palmer then putting Chelsea back in front just before the break as the England man expertly lofted the ball over Jose Sa.

However, Chelsea keeper Robert Sanchez had taken his kick from a restart while the ball was still rolling in the build up to the goal – meaning it should have been disallowed. Due to the goal not breaking any of the official rules needed for a VAR review, it was not checked.

VAR protocol requires that goals and incidents are checked over by officials at Stockley Park over goals that shouldn’t stand or a goal that wasn’t awarded, penalty decisions, red cards or mistaken identity. Restarts are not included in the protocol.