Mikel Arteta declared "thank God" for VAR after Premier League leaders Arsenal held on for a 1-0 win at Leeds United.
Sunday's game at Elland Road was suspended just a couple of minutes after it started, as a power cut was affecting Hawk-Eye and communications between referee Chris Kavanagh and the VAR.
The match resumed following a delay of around 40 minutes and Bukayo Saka's fourth goal in three matches gave the Gunners a half-time advantage, the England international becoming the first player to register 50 goal involvements during Arteta's reign.
Leeds dominated the second half, Patrick Bamford having a goal disallowed for a push on Gabriel Magalhaes within a minute of coming on before missing a penalty.
Bamford wasted further clear-cut chances as Aaron Ramsdale kept Leeds at bay and there was one final twist when the Leeds striker was awarded another spot-kick after being kicked by Gabriel, who was shown a red card for retaliating.
However, referee Kavanagh instead awarded Arsenal a free-kick and showed Gabriel a yellow card, having seen on the pitchside monitor that Bamford had shoved the centre-back to the ground.
A seventh consecutive victory put the Gunners four points clear ahead of second-placed Manchester City's trip to Liverpool and Arteta was relieved after an action-packed afternoon in West Yorkshire.
Asked to reflect on the match, the Arsenal boss told Sky Sports: "Hectic! It is always really intense here, we were exceptional in the first half and should have been two or three up.
"Credit to Leeds in the second half, we made so many errors and did not generate momentum but I just love the relentless passion the team played with and how we found a way to win."
He added on the late VAR decision: "I have not seen it but everyone is saying the decision was clear. Thank God they made the system work, that delay was worth it because without VAR I don't know what would have happened!"
Arteta praised the character shown by his players on the back of a 1-0 Europa League win at Bodo/Glimt, where Saka scored the only goal of the game following his double in the 3-2 victory over Liverpool last weekend.
The Spaniard said: "This is something special. This is not a coincidence it shows the willingness that I see in the eyes of the players to win, to compete.
"A lot of players played in Norway two and a half days ago, travelled back on Friday and were still willing to win so credit to them."
Neymar suffers fresh injury blow
Neymar sustained a new injury as he was forced off during Al-Hilal's AFC Champions League Elite win over Esteghlal.
Aleksandar Mitrovic plundered a hat-trick on Monday to seal a 3-0 win.
But Al-Hilal's victory was soured by an injury to Neymar, who had to make way just 29 minutes after he came on as a second-half substitute.
The Brazilian, who has just returned from over a year out of action following a serious knee injury, was forced off with what appeared to be a thigh issue.
Indeed, Monday's appearance was only the 32-year-old's second for Al-Hilal since his comeback.
He has featured just seven times for the Saudi Pro League champions in all competitions since his big-money move from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023.
Rodgers delighted as Celtic rout Aberdeen in semi-final
Celtic booked their place in the Scottish League Cup final after hammering Aberdeen 6-0 at Hampden Park on Saturday.
The 21-time winners of the tournament were inspired by a Daizen Maeda hat-trick in a near-perfect performance against the Scottish Premiership's second-placed side.
Manager Brendan Rodgers was delighted with the result and performance from his side.
"It was a testament to our players and the demands they have. They play every week in big games. We have to manage this group through every game," he told Premier Sports.
"It was up to us to decide the game and the players did that. They were brilliant today. We were more aggressive in the second half.
"Aberdeen have had an excellent season, they will continue to work well I'm sure."
The result was Aberdeen's first defeat in 17 matches in all competitions this season, with a 2-2 draw at Celtic Park last month the only time they had previously failed to win.
Cameron Carter-Vickers got the scoring under way with a header 29 minutes in, before the brilliant Maeda sat down goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov to set up Kyogo Furuhashi for a second three minutes later.
Maeda then got in on the act himself on 40 minutes before the game briefly descended into farce on the stroke of half-time, with Rodgers shown a yellow card for kicking away a ball that had gone out before slipping over.
"To be fair, I was raging because we had given the ball away," he said.
"I have my moments, like every manager. It was just the game, even though we were comfortable at 3-0.
"It was a deserved yellow card. The speed of the ball [was the issue]. I just wanted to keep the tempo of the game."
Celtic and Maeda picked up where they left off in the second half to make it 4-0 in the 50th minute before Nicolas Kuhn hammered in a fifth on the hour.
The rout was complete when Maeda wrapped up his hat-trick as he finished off a flowing attacking move with five minutes to go.
After the match, Rodgers continued to be effusive about his team, who will face either Rangers or Motherwell in the final.
"An outstanding team performance. You come up against a team that has been so, so good. We knew it would be a challenge," he told BBC Scotland.
"We had to bring our A-game and the players did that, in particular during the second half.
"We were ruthless. We worked the ball really well to create the space and made good runs.
"It's a beautiful pitch here at Hampden. It's perfect for the football we want to play."
Leeds cut gap at the top of the Championship, while Watford hammer Wednesday
Leeds climbed to second in the Championship, three points behind leaders Sunderland, following a 3-0 victory at home to Plymouth.
Daniel Farke's side dominated the opening 30 minutes of the match before three goals in eight minutes put the game to bed inside the first half.
Dan James opened the scoring on the half-hour mark, firing into the top corner from the edge of the area, before Joel Piroe and Brenden Aaronson made it comfortable.
The result marked Plymouth's fourth game without a victory and they dropped into the bottom three on goal difference due to results elsewhere.
Sunderland were held to a goalless draw away to second-bottom QPR, which opened the door for those below to reduce their lead at the top of the table.
While Dan Neil hit the post for the Black Cats in the first half, it was the hosts who were the better team for long periods.
The game turned in the second half when Jobe Bellingham was sent off after 58 minutes for a poor challenge on Zan Celar, but neither side was able to find a winner.
Elsewhere, Watford moved above West Brom into fifth after they hammered Sheffield Wednesday 6-2 at Hillsborough for their second away win of the season.
The result ended a six-game losing run on the road for the Hornets, who were drawing 1-1 at half-time and saw Vakoun Bayo score four goals inside 30 second-half minutes.
Coventry also made it back-to-back league wins for the first time this season with a 3-0 victory away to Middlesbrough that moved them up to 13th.
The hosts had Hayden Hackney sent off after 22 minutes for two yellow cards, which allowed the Sky Blues to ease to three points. As a result, Michael Carrick's side are three points off the play-off positions in 10th.
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