For the second weekend in a row, Arsenal were left with questions to ask of the referee. Following the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth in which William Saliba was sent off, sparking anger from the club’s travelling away fans and online followers, Mikel Arteta’s side were once again left frustrated.
At the Vitality Stadium, it was Rob Jones who overturned his yellow card into a red one after a VAR review recommended checking the decision via the pitchside monitor. Anthony Taylor was the man in the middle on Sunday as Arsenal were eventually held 2-2 by Liverpool.
The Reds hit back twice to goals from Bukayo Saka and Mikel Merino, netting a late leveller. The match between title rivals didn’t lack talking points even if quality was on the short side at stages.
Not only did Virgil van Dijk appear to kick out twice at Kai Havertz early on in a small provocation between the two players, but lengthy VAR checks were on hand yet again. Gabriel Martinelli felt he was fouled in the first half when sandwiched between Ibrahima Konate and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The Premier League’s Match Centre (an official X – formerly Twitter – account), wrote: “The referee’s call of no penalty for the challenge by Konate on Martinelli was checked and confirmed by VAR – deeming that Konate won the ball.” The score was 1-1 at the time with Arsenal players left unhappy with Taylor and Stockley Park officials not giving them a penalty.
By half-time, the anger had turned to joy. Merino headed in from Declan Rice’s inch-perfect cross. It took a while for that goal to be confirmed, though, with an offside review taking place.
