Liverpool were undeniably poor against their bitter rivals in tonight’s Merseyside derby, though Chris Kavanagh courted some controversy late in the second-half, awarding what appeared to be a soft penalty to the visitors, after a three-second consultation with a VAR screen.
The official pointed to the spot after Dominic Calvert-Lewin inadvertently tripped over Trent Alexander-Arnold who had fallen to the turf from an earlier challenge.
Kavanagh offered the VAR screen the briefest of glances before jogging back to the Reds’ box to confirm that his feelings on the matter had not changed.
In reality, we hardly deserved to take home all three points, with the tie looking like it would swing in Everton’s favour on the one goal alone, as Jurgen Klopp’s men failed to convert their chances.
Nonetheless, it’s an absolute travesty – though one we’ve come to expect from the officials in the Premier League – that the penalty was allowed, with the referee’s refusal to consider the VAR screen for longer than three seconds coming off as haughty rather than confident.
We’ll take responsibility for failing to impose ourselves on the fixture once more at Anfield, but it’s difficult to swallow yet another controversial call from an official – especially when they seem to be popping up game after game.