Premier League release statement on controversial VAR call in Man City vs Liverpool

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Manchester City were awarded an early penalty against Liverpool after Jeremy Doku was brought down inside the penalty area

The Premier League have explained why Manchester City were awarded a penalty by VAR against Liverpool after on-field referee Chris Kavanagh initially decided against the decision.

Giorgi Mamardashvili came out to bring Jeremy Doku down inside the penalty area after the winger had done superbly to win the ball back from two defenders. Kavanagh allowed play to continue before waving away any calls for a penalty.

However, VAR intervened when the ball went out of play and Kavanagh was sent to the on-field screen. Following a review of the incident, Kavanagh reverse his decision and awarded the penalty - which was missed from Erling Haaland.

Posting on their Premier League Match Centre account on X, they wrote: "After review, the referee overturned the original decision of no penalty to Manchester City.

"Referee announcement: “After review, the goalkeeper commits a foul challenge on the attacker, the final decision is penalty.”

Replays showed that Mamardashvili had accidently clipped Doku with his knee as he attempted to move the ball away. Fortunately for City, Haaland made up for his penalty miss with the game's opener.

Concerns over whether the goalkeeper had come off his line too soon emerged immediately after the penalty. On Sky Sports, Gary Neville initially commented on Mamardashvili's early movement, but replays confirmed all was fair.

The striker peeled off at the back post to head Matheus Nunes' deep cross into the back of the net. Haaland has now scored 14 league goals in 11 games.

His miss against Liverpool is his first penalty miss for City since March and only his fifth for the club in total. The controversy didn't stop there when Liverpool were disallowed a goal through offside.

Virgil van Dijk headed a corner home with a smart header but it was immediately ruled-out for offside. Andrew Robertson was deemed to be in an offside position when the Dutchman headed towards goal.

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