Liverpool given assistant referee involved in Aston Villa-Newcastle scandal

Chris Kavanagh won't referee a Premier League match this weekend after controversial decisions in the FA Cup tie between Newcastle and Aston Villa, including a missed penalty for handball

Gary Beswick was involved in the recent FA Cup game between Aston Villa and Newcastle(Image: Getty Images)

Chris Kavanagh has been omitted from Premier League duty this weekend following a string of questionable calls during Saturday's FA Cup encounter between Newcastle and Aston Villa.

His assistant, Nick Greenhalgh, has similarly been left out of the selections. But his other assistant, Gary Beswick, will serve as an assistant referee for Sunday's clash between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool. Kavanagh, alongside Greenhalgh and Beswick, oversaw the fourth-round FA Cup fixture at Villa Park without VAR assistance.

Despite Newcastle securing a comfortable 3-1 victory to progress, the Magpies had legitimate grievances over several decisions. The officials initially failed to spot Tammy Abraham in an offside position before the forward put Villa ahead.

Subsequently, Lucas Digne avoided dismissal for a dangerous, shin-high challenge on Newcastle's Jacob Murphy.

The most glaring error saw Kavanagh awarding a free-kick rather than a penalty when Digne handled a cross inside his own area. Wayne Rooney branded it "one of the worst decisions he's ever seen."

For this weekend's league fixtures, both Kavanagh and Greenhalgh have been stood down. But Beswick will be on duty when Arne Slot's Liverpool players take to the field at the City Ground on Sunday.

There were several refereeing mistakes during the FA Cup game between Aston Villa and Newcastle(Image: Getty Images)

Widely considered amongst England's finest officials, Kavanagh regularly oversees marquee fixtures. The 40-year-old's credentials were further enhanced in January when, having officiated numerous Champions League matches, he earned promotion to UEFA's elite roster of referees alongside Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor.

However, officials are held accountable by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). Their performances are evaluated by an independent Key Match Incidents (KMI) panel.

On punditry duty at Villa Park, Newcastle legend Alan Shearer was livid, suggesting that the officials were "petrified" to make a decision without VAR as backup.

"There is perhaps a small excuse for the referee to not see this, and I'm being kind to him," Shearer began.

"But there is no excuse whatsoever for the assistant (Greenhalgh) is, who is 10 or 15 yards away and has had an absolute nightmare today. He cost for the offside free-kick (Abraham's goal) and he's 15 yards away from that.

"Goodness me! If you ever needed any evidence of the damage VAR has done to the referees, I think today is a great example of that, because these guys, I think, look petrified to make a decision today because they didn't have a comfort blanket.

"And that's the damage it's done to the officials. For me, they're actually getting worse because I really don't think that is a difficult decision at all, in fact it's easy and at this standard, that has to be given.

"There's no excuse for the assistant not to tell his referee that he's got that totally wrong."