Referee removed from Premier League game after VAR mistake

Darren England has been removed from duty following his ‘significant’ mistake in Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham.

The Reds were denied a clear goal in their 2-1 loss in north London on Saturday with Luis Diaz incorrectly adjudged to be offside.

Liverpool were denied an obvious goal after Diaz was adjudged to be offside

Referee England was on VAR duty for Spurs’ home clash against Liverpool

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited [PGMOL] have admitted that ‘significant human error’ led to the first half strike being chalked off.

And now it has been confirmed that England, who was on VAR duty for the game, will not be involved in Nottingham Forest’s clash against Brentford.

Meanwhile his assistant Dan Cook has also been removed from Chelsea’s trip to Fulham on Monday night.

A statement from the PGMOL said: “PGMOL can confirm the following match official appointment changes for the remaining fixtures in matchround seven in the Premier League.“Darren England, VAR on the Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool fixture, and Dan Cook, AVAR on the same game, have been replaced for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford and Fulham v Chelsea matches today and tomorrow night respectively.

“Craig Pawson will now assume England’s duties as fourth official at the City Ground while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant referee at Craven Cottage.”

It has been revealed that England incorrectly thought that the on-field referee – Simon Hooper – had awarded Diaz’s goal, with VAR simply having to confirm whether it was the right call.

Under this assumption, England told the on-field team ‘check complete’ after quickly checking that Diaz was onside.

However Hooper took this as Diaz being offside, with England agreeing with the linesman’s call to put his flag up.

And it proved to be crucial, as Liverpool fell behind to a Heung-min Son goal, with Curtis Jones also being sent off in the first half.

Cody Gakpo did equalise just before the break, with the Reds then reduced to nine men after Diogo Jota was shown two yellow cards in quick succession.

And to add insult to injury for the Merseyside outfit, Joel Matip then scored an own goal in the sixth minute of injury time.

Commenting on the PGMOL’s statement on Saturday, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said: “Wolves got a similar statement or apology, but didn’t get the points against [Manchester] United.

“And we will not get anything out of that today so it doesn’t help.

“We all have to work together so we make the right decisions and I’m pretty sure no one is making incorrect decisions on purpose, but it’s still happening and I don’t know why.”