VAR offers up Arsenal’s title-deciding moment for digital mess generation

Multibillion stage of title-relegation stagger boils down to a referee in front of a screen decoding a raised forearm

VARSENAL: The big screen showing a VAR decision to disallow West Ham United's Callum Wilson goal. Pic: John Walton/PA Wire.

There’s a great moment towards the end of the otherwise non-great Rocky III, when Clubber Lang is asked by a straw-hatted, bowtie-twirling US sports reporter for a prediction before his imminent title fight. There’s a pause as Clubber looks down, lets the mask of showmanship drop, and just says the word “pain”.

You can say that again. Let’s face it, this was always going to hurt, whichever way the latest note in the conjoined title‑relegation stagger fell.