Gary Lineker demands 'unfair' rule change after Man United knock Arsenal out of FA Cup

Match of the Day host Gary Lineker has called on the FA to re-evaluate their rules concerning offsides after Arsenal had a goal ruled out against Manchester United on Sunday.

The incident came in an otherwise uneventful first half when Gabriel Martinelli was adjudged to have been offside, and thus his goal ruled out, when the ball was played through for him despite it taking a touch off Harry Maguire. The laws currently state that an opposition player must make a controlled and deliberate pass to an attacker in an offside position to rule them onside.

It was deemed by the officials this weekend that was not the case. In a bid to avoid further confusion in the future, Lineker said at half time for BBC Sport that the FA should look to eliminate the blurred lines surrounding the offside rule.

"Now, we understand they have given that because Harry Maguire is not in control of the ball, but you could argue, of course, that he should have been," Lineker explained. "Here are the four things about when a player is uncontrolled.

"The ball travelled from a short distance or the player doesn’t have a clear view of it. Neither of those apply. The ball was moving quickly. Well, it wasn’t. The direction of the ball was unexpected. It wasn’t. And, the player had limited or no time to coordinate their body movement.

"You could possibly make an argument on that, but we understand why it’s not given. Now, why don’t they [the FA] just say all deflections in those circumstances are offside?

"Rather than this ambiguous nature of uncontrolled and controlled and all that." Had Lineker's rule change been enforced, it would not have changed the outcome of the match but it would have perhaps saved Andy Madley from further scrutiny in what was otherwise a difficult day for the referee.

He courted controversy in the second half after awarding a soft penalty to Arsenal after Maguire was adjudged to have brought down Kai Havertz. However, Martin Odegaard's resulting spot kick was expertly saved by Altay Bayindir during his Man of the Match performance.

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