Michael Owen gives his verdict on contentious penalty call v Everton

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Michael Owen declared that he felt Chris Kavanagh’s decision to award a penalty in the dying embers of the Merseyside derby was the correct one, as reported by the Daily Star.

The official had been called to the VAR screen to check the replay of the initial foul, after Dominic Calvert-Lewin tripped over Trent Alexander-Arnold in the box.

“I thought it was a penalty as well,” the ex-Red told Premier League Productions. “I think you can see there Trent Alexander-Arnold hooks his leg up, he lifts it up and he almost hooks him down, and I thought it was a penalty as well.”

Kavanagh upheld his earlier penalty call, allowing Gylfi Sigurdsson to kill off the tie from the spot.

Considering that the Liverpool fullback had already taken to the turf, with momentum carrying him toward the path of the Everton forward, we’d have to seriously question Owen’s opinion here.

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To add insult to injury, the official’s refusal to dignify the VAR screen with a glance lasting longer than three seconds suggested that a decision had already been made regardless of the evidence available.

We would have most likely ended up losing the tie a goal behind to our city rivals, but it’s hard to ignore the sting of yet another shoddy refereeing call.

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