Crystal Palace’s second goal against Forest sparks handball debate

Crystal Palace’s second goal in their 3–1 win over Nottingham Forest has come under scrutiny after reports that Jefferson Lerma’s header struck Anan Khalaili’s elbow before entering the net.

The stoppage-time goal put Palace ahead after Daichi Kamada had cancelled out Dan Ndoye’s early opener.

The Sun’s report on the incident says replays showed contact with Khalaili’s elbow. A VAR check took place, but the goal stood.

What does the handball rule say?

Under IFAB’s Law 12, a player cannot score directly with their hand or arm, even when the contact is accidental.

That means intention would not decide the issue if the ball went directly into Forest’s goal off Khalaili’s elbow. Confirmed contact of that kind would require the goal to be disallowed.

The shoulder is treated differently. For handball decisions, the arm’s upper boundary is level with the bottom of the armpit, so a goal scored with the shoulder can be legitimate.

Why was Palace’s goal allowed?

The goal survived the review, but an official explanation identifying what the VAR concluded about the alleged contact had not been verified at the time of writing.

It therefore remains unclear whether the officials judged there was no handball contact or reached their decision for another reason.

The incident came at a decisive stage, with Palace taking a 2–1 lead into half-time. Yéremy Pino added their third in the 59th minute to secure victory over Oliver Glasner’s side.

Both Lerma and Khalaili started for the hosts, as detailed in our Crystal Palace–Forest confirmed line-ups.