'Where is the line?' – Bowen fumes at late VAR call in West Ham's defeat to Arsenal

West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen asked, "Where is the line?" when it comes to contact after Callum Wilson's late goal was chalked off during Sunday's 1-0 defeat to Arsenal. 

The Hammers thought they had snatched a point in the 95th minute when Wilson rifled home after Leandro Trossard had given Arsenal an 83rd-minute lead at London Stadium.

However, following a lengthy VAR check, referee Chris Kavanagh ruled the goal out after Pablo was deemed to have fouled visiting goalkeeper David Raya in the build-up. 

It is a result that plunges Nuno Espirito Santo's side into further trouble at the wrong end of the Premier League table, with West Ham remaining a point behind Tottenham, who face Leeds United – now safe after the Hammers' defeat – on Monday. 

The Opta supercomputer has now assigned West Ham an 87.7% chance of being relegated to the Championship, though Bowen believed that more consistency in such situations needs to be implemented moving forward. 

"I think he has his arm on him. I'm not going to come and be naive and stupid. I do think he's got his arm on him," Bowen said about the incident.

"But if the goalkeeper is coming to try and catch the cross, we're trying to affect that; we don't want that.

"He's coming out of his six-yard box; he has to expect some contact because that's the whole point. Where is the line? Where is the bar?

"We've lost the game. In a game where we had to be good in our shape, defend well, they got the goal, but we kept in the game and had some other good big chances.

"Regardless of the decision, we have still lost the game and dropped a point. Two games left, it's do or die.

"We showed a good attitude, went toe to toe with the Premier League leaders, so we can't feel defeated. We have to keep going, and that's all we can do."

West Ham had their chances in an improved second-half display, most notably through Mateus Fernandes, who saw his shot in the 78th minute brilliantly saved by Raya. 

The Hammers were just edged in the expected goals (xG) battle after registering a total of 1.3 from their nine shots to Arsenal's 1.4 from their 15 attempts. 

The result meant West Ham lost back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since suffering defeats in their first two of 2026, but Nuno was pleased with the performance and did not want to dwell on the late VAR drama.

"The way the game finished – we're all upset, of course," Nuno said. "I didn't pay attention to the replay just to not get more upset, but there's a referee, there's VAR, there are circumstances in the past that would be judged differently. Let's not say much further than that.

"Due to recent seasons, it's been happening, and even the referees don't know what is a foul, what isn't a foul. It creates a lot of doubt and speculation around it.

"Let's look at the game overall. Before that, we had a good chance. We made a good match – character, belief, how we played and went for it.

"Overall, a good performance which in the end didn't come away with the result we wanted, needed and expected. We lost the game, finished.

"It was about being pragmatic, how to exploit weaknesses with our wing-backs and, with the exception of the goal, we didn't allow much to Arsenal.

"Tough team, the stadium was amazing – the noise, energy, so thank you to the fans. It's our responsibility to bounce back in the next two games and fight until the last second."

West Ham face Newcastle United and Leeds in their last two Premier League matches, and when asked if he fancied his team's chances, Nuno said: "We are on it. It is our obligation, our responsibility to defend a big club like West Ham."