Darren England and Dan Cook have been replaced as referees for Sunday’s match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford and Monday’s match between Fulham and Chelsea.
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Liverpool – Verdict
Darren England has been replaced as the fourth official in Sunday’s match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford after a VAR stint during Liverpool’s controversial 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.
The 37-year-old was in charge of VAR as Liverpool were beaten in north London despite a series of controversial decisions. The first came when, following a VAR review, Curtis Jones was shown a straight red card for a tackle on Yves Bissouma.
Liverpool then thought they had taken the lead through Luis Diaz, but the flag was raised. After a 40-second review, VAR did not overturn the decision despite replays showing the Colombian was fouled when Mohamed Salah played the ball. After the full-time whistle, the PGMOL admitted that the decision was a “clear and obvious error of law” and that a full review would be arranged. Meanwhile, PGMOL decided to remove England’s fourth official from Forest’s home game against Brentford, while VAR assistant Dan Cook will not take part in Chelsea’s trip to Fulham on Monday night as an assistant referee.
Craig Pawson and Eddie Smart will now step in as PGMOL decide to separate England and Cook from their duties. PGMOL released a statement apologizing for Jurgen Klopp’s mistake following Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The statement read: “PGMOL acknowledges that a serious human error occurred during the first half of the Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool match. Luis Diaz’s goal was disallowed by the referee for offside.
“This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in a goal through VAR intervention. However, VAR did not. PGMOL will contact Liverpool immediately after the match and acknowledge the error.”
Son Heung-min gave Tottenham a quick-fire lead in the 36th minute before Liverpool leveled at half-time through Cody Gakpo. Then, with Liverpool already down, their task became much more difficult when Diogo Jota was given his marching orders for two rushing yellow cards. Liverpool defended superbly until Joel Matip headed the ball into his own net to give Tottenham all three points. After the match, Klopp shouted at the referees. He said: “I’ve never been more proud of the team than I am today. I’ve never seen a game like this with the most unfair circumstances and the craziest decisions.
– We scored an own goal, it’s really hard to do, but I’m very proud. The first red card, Curtis steps on the ball and goes over. Not a bad tackle. It looks different in slow motion. He steps full throttle on the ball and goes over the ball. That is unlucky. “[Diogo Jota’s] first yellow was not a yellow. Then he gets the second one and defending with nine players is difficult. You want to build something you need players with a mentality, and I saw them today, they fought. Pretty special this -evening..”
