can reveal that the Premier League’s independent Critical Match Incident Panel ruled that Diogo Jota should not have been sent off during Liverpool’s 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.
Jota challenged Tottenham defender Destiny Udoji twice in just over a minute and was shown a red card.
– Live on +: LaLiga, Bundesliga and more (USA)
has seen the Week 7 panel’s assessment, detailing that a second tackle on Udoji in the 69th minute did not merit a yellow card from referee Simon Hooper.
“The majority felt the decision was incorrect as they believed the threshold for a yellow card had not been met,” the report said, with five members voting 3-2 against the yellow card.
The panel has five members, made up of three former players and/or coaches, plus one representative each from the Premier League and PGMOL. The verdict is not intended to be final but rather a fair assessment of all major game events. PGMOL, and even the clubs, may disagree with some of these results.
At the time, few observers questioned the merits of Jota’s second warning, which left the Reds with just nine men for the remainder of the game. It was the first yellow card, when Udoji’s back leg struck the Portuguese striker’s knee, that seemed more worthy of reassessment. However, if a player is sent off for two bookable warnings, the tribunal will not make a judgment on the first yellow card.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was furious at two red cards and the fact that Luis Diaz’s goal was wrongly ruled out for offside.
Curtis Jones was sent off for a challenge on Yves Bissouma in the 24th minute via video review, but the panel upheld VAR Darren England’s intervention. Klopp confirmed Liverpool had lost an appeal to the FA to overturn Jones’ three-match ban, but he was unable to protest against Jota’s one-match ban for two warnings.
Klopp told a press conference on Wednesday that he believed the game should be replayed after the refereeing body PGMOL admitted that “standards did not meet expectations” in the incident involving Diaz, whose goal was disallowed due to a VAR error. 0-0 in the 34th minute.
According to the panel, it was the worst weekend for referees this season, with four missed VAR interventions, more than in the rest of the season combined.
Aston Villa’s second and third goals in their 6-1 home win over Brighton should have been ruled out, it was ruled. Villa led 1-0 and 3-2 in the group when Nicola Zaniolo got into the sights of Brighton goalkeeper Jason Steele as he fired in Ollie Watkins’ shot. The ball was disallowed.
Minutes later, Brighton’s Solimachi was brought down by Douglas Luiz during Perves Estupinan’s own goal. However, while the panel ruled Luiz had committed a foul and voted 4-1 in favor of VAR intervention, there was no mention of the relevance of the attacking phase, which would have been a key consideration in overturning VAR, Stuart Atwell.
It was also reported that Villa defender Ezri Konsa should have been shown a second yellow card in the 71st minute, when the score was 4-1. Brighton midfielder Ansu Fati was booked after an altercation with Konsa, who was booked in the 57th minute, with the panel believing both players should have been warned.
The panel also agreed that Brentford were awarded a clear penalty at Nottingham Forest when goalkeeper Matt Turner kicked the ball towards Brentford striker Eoin Wiesa. The game ended 1-1.
All other key match events for the game between Saturday and Tuesday were ruled correct by the expert panel.
