Renowned pundit Richard Keys thinks Liverpool can feel aggrieved with some of the refereeing decisions in their defeat to Arsenal.
The Reds were beaten 3-2 by the Gunners in their Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino scored what proved to be consolations for Liverpool in the capital, with an early Gabriel Martinelli strike and a Bukayo Saka brace handing the Reds a defeat.
Sunday’s match saw plenty of controversy across the full 90 minutes at the Emirates. The first came with Arsenal’s opening goal, with sections of supporters unhappy that Saka was not adjudged to have been offside in the build-up.
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Keys says that he thinks the goal should have been disallowed, and claims that he asked the Professional Game Match Officials Board (PGMOL) for clarification on the offside, but did not receive it.
“But let’s get back to Arsenal. They got all the big decisions,” wrote Keys, in his blog .
“Saka is offside when he receives the ball in the build-up to the first goal. He’s clearly offside. But let’s be generous and say VAR let it go because it was so tight. I’ve argued that when decisions are – the forward should always get the advantage so I’d be happy if the PGMOL have had a change of heart. Except they haven’t.
“They missed it. How do I know? Because we asked the match centre for the proof that Saka was on. We wanted to see the lines they’d used to make their decision.
“They couldn’t provide them. Why? Because they didn’t use them. If they checked it – they guessed.”
Keys then spoke about another decision which went against Liverpool, of which they can feel aggrieved again. Referee Michael Oliver chose not to award the Reds a penalty, despite the ball appearing to hit the hand of Arsenal defender Gabriel Magalhaes in the box.
“Liverpool should’ve had a pen,” said Keys. “Never mind that the ‘proximity of the ball to the arm was too close’.
“I’ve read arguments today that ‘it’s hard to fathom how Gabriel could’ve got his arm out of the way of Jota’s cross’ I’m quoting Martin Samuel. Nonsense. He moves his arm to the ball.
“It starts by his side – and Liverpool had two in the middle waiting for the ball. Pen. Nailed on.”
Oliver did award a penalty to Arsenal, which Saka converted to win the match for the Gunners, after Thiago Alcantara was adjudged to have fouled Gabriel Jesus. Keys disagrees with the decision, and feels a spot-kick was the wrong call.
“And the pen Oliver gave Arsenal was a poor decision as well, but there was no way Darren England in VAR was ever going to tell him that he’d got it wrong,” Keys added.
“Oliver had a decision at Forest queried recently – when he gave them a pen – and I’m told that he let it be known in the following days that he wasn’t happy about being sent to his monitor.
“Oliver is now just about our most senior ref. There’s no way he’s going to have someone he considers junior to him questioning his decisions.”
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