adminJohn Brooks was been replaced as the VAR for both the Merseyside derby last night as well as Arsenal’s clash with Manchester City tomorrow. Premier League officials were in the spotlight this past weekend with both Arsenal and Brighton falling victim to errors in the VAR process.
Premier League referee chief Howard Webb contacted both clubs to acknowledge the ‘significant errors’ in both matches. The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) issued a statement where they confirmed an investigation was taking place.
It read: “PGMOL can confirm its Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb has contacted both Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion to acknowledge and explain the significant errors in the VAR
process in their respective Premier League fixtures on Saturday. Both incidents, which were due to human error and related to the analysis of offside situations, are being thoroughly reviewed by PGMOL.”
Brooks was the VAR for Brighton’s trip to Crystal Palace where he disallowed Pervis Estupinan’s first-half goal. The full-back looked to have put Brighton in front early on, but was deemed offside when he received a pass from Pascal Gross.
However, the offside line by the VAR was wrongly drawn from James Tomkins rather than Marc Guehi, who was standing behind him. If the line was drawn correctly, Estupinan’s goal would have stood with both teams sharing a point in the end.
Brooks was still down to be the VAR for both the Merseyside derby on Monday as well as Wednesday’s top-of-the-table clash between Arsenal and City. But he’s now been replaced for both matches, with Andre Marriner taking VAR duties for Liverpool’s match against Everton. PGMOL’s statement read: “John Brooks has been replaced as VAR for both Liverpool vs Everton tonight (last night) and Arsenal v Manchester City on Wednesday evening.
“Andre Marriner and David Coote will assume VAR duties in his place tonight and Wednesday respectively.” — Express Sport.
Online Reporter