Mark Noble is currently enjoying his best Premier League campaign for goals and assists since we moved to the London Stadium, but our captain has been forced to concede that one frustrating theme has consistently blighted our efforts for more.
That theme is questionable offside calls, with back-to-back games taking vital points off the board, and scrubbing our hopes of qualifying for the Europa League at the same time.
VAR will hopefully help to eliminate the consequences those calls have created next season, as we should have been home and dry at 3-1 against Leicester, yet were forced to settle for a point.
Like Lucas Perez against the Foxes, Felipe Anderson was also onside at Old Trafford, but instead of going 1-0 up against Manchester United inside quarter of an hour, we went on to go behind.
You also have James Milner coming from an offside position to set-up Sadio Mane’s opener when we welcomed Liverpool to the London Stadium, and Manuel Lanzini’s calls for a penalty against Manchester City waved away before Bernardo Silva earnt one through similar contact.
All these incidents have taken their toll on our season, and Noble has reluctantly shared his views on the matter with the club’s official website.
“We’ve had another big decision go against us to be honest,” the 31-year-old noted. “I don’t really like moaning about officials, because it is such a hard job. When you are out there you don’t realise just how fast the game is played.
“But if we go 3-1 up here, and we go 1-0 up at Old Trafford last week, it is a little frustrating when you work so hard and it is taken out of your hands.”
Our draw with Leicester was not entirely negative for Noble, though, as his ball into the box led to Michail Antonio’s opening goal, and fifth in the league this term.
“Michail works hard and he is strong,” our leader added. “It was his best game for a long time and you could see that there is no end-of-season blues, because you could see what it meant to everyone.
“Me and [Robert] Snodgrass played a one-two and when I looked up I saw that he was with Ben Chilwell.
“It was a case of hanging it up for him and he is that good in the air, I knew that he is going to win it 90 per cent of the time and it worked out well.
“We are still going for it. You could see the enthusiasm to get the win. But it is hard enough to score in the Premier League as it is, but when you score an onside goal, it is frustrating.”
