Ex-Premier League official Mark Clattenburg says Liverpool should have been awarded a stoppage-time penalty in their 1-1 draw with Manchester City after Jeremy Doku’s challenge on Alexis Mac Allister – and blames VAR Stuart Attwell for not intervening.
Mac Allister equalised from the spot to cancel out John Stones’ opener and the points were shared in Sunday’s all-action heavyweight clash at Anfield, meaning Arsenal held onto top spot in the Premier League after their defeat of Brentford.
The most controversial moment of the clash came deep into stoppage time as City’s second-half substitute, Doku, won the ball but appeared to catch Mac Allister in the chest with his follow through.
The Argentine World Cup-winning midfielder writhed around in pain on the turf and Jurgen Klopp demanded Liverpool were awarded their second spot-kick of the match on the touchline.
However, Michael Oliver waved away Liverpool’s protestations and Doku’s tackle went unpunished after a brief check from video assistant referee Attwell.
Both Klopp and Mac Allister have since blasted the decision not to award a penalty, with the Merseyside giants denied the opportunity to leapfrog Arsenal at the summit with ten games remaining of the season.
And former official Clattenburg, who officiated in both Champions League and Euros finals, believes the Reds are right to feel aggrieved.
‘Liverpool should have been awarded a stoppage-time penalty against Manchester City but this is the problem in the Premier League right now – referees are making mistakes in matches and not being helped by their VARs,’ Clattenburg wrote in his column for The Daily Mail.
‘The ball bounces up. Alexis Mac Allister moves towards it. Jeremy Doku’s foot is high. He catches Mac Allister in the chest.
‘Outside of the box, this would have resulted in a free-kick, every day of the week. Just because it happened inside the box does not suddenly transform it into a clean challenge when Mac Allister might be left playing connect the dots on his chest on Monday morning.
‘Regardless of the magnitude of the match and the fact it happened in the 98th minute, this was an incident worthy of a penalty.’
Clattenburg continued: ‘Referee Michael Oliver missed it in real time at the end of an exhausting and exhilarating contest and so it was on VAR Stuart Attwell to intervene.
‘This is where the frustration lies – we have seen similar incidents this weekend where Stockley Park should have told their colleagues on the ground that they had missed a penalty or a red card but didn’t.
‘You only needed to watch Match of the Day 2 to see how other matches were let down by decisions. Everybody could see this was a penalty for Liverpool.
‘Except VAR, that is, and it is that official’s opinion who matters most in this major moments of matches.’
Meanwhile, former official Mike Dean, who refereed over 550 matches in the English top flight, felt Doku was ‘very fortunate’ to get away with the challenge on the Liverpool midfielder.
‘Obviously he played the ball first and the follow through, I’m guessing, they’re saying is a normal coming together,’ Dean said while reviewing the challenge on Sky Sports’ commentary of the match.
‘He’s very, very fortunate in my opinion there, Doku.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE : Jurgen Klopp takes aim at Gareth Southgate over Joe Gomez’s England omission
MORE : Danny Murphy tells Arsenal how they can beat Manchester City after Liverpool draw
MORE : Gary Neville names the one person responsible for Liverpool’s title challenge
