Football news: Liverpool VAR controversy explained as Viktor Gyokeres rejects Man Utd

Football news: Liverpool VAR controversy explained as Viktor Gyokeres rejects Man Utd

Liverpool's win over Everton on Wednesday night was marred by some controversial VAR calls as Manchester United's hopes of landing Viktor Gyokeres this summer take a blow

Liverpool were stunned that Everton avoided a red card during the Merseyside derby (Image: CameraSport via Getty Images )

The Premier League's midweek round of games concludes with Chelsea hosting Tottenham as they look to remain in the Champions League hunt. Already they've seen Manchester City, Newcastle and Aston Villa all claim three points.

Nottingham Forest also won, furthering their grip on third place, having seen off Manchester United on Tuesday. The race for the top four, which is likely to become a top five, has become one of the major battles in the final months of the season.

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Several clubs will still fancy their chances and currently City in fourth are separated from Bournemouth in tenth by just seven points. Liverpool and Arsenal picked up victories on consecutive nights, both beating local rivals, to ensure they remained top and second respectively.

The Reds saw off Everton in an action-filled clash at Anfield that saw VAR and the referee heavily called into question, especially after James Tarkowski escaped a red card following a high tackle. Here's the latest talking points doing the rounds.

VAR call explained

The Premier League have confirmed why Samuel Barrot decided against sending Tarkowski off after he left Alexis Mac Allister on the deck following a dangerous tackle during the first half of the Merseyside derby.

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The Everton defender was only booked for his challenge on Alexis Mac Allister (Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images )

The Everton defender went flying into a tackle on the Argentine just outside his penalty area. The Liverpool star was left writhing in pain as VAR reviewed the incident to determine whether or not Tarkowski's challenge met the threshold for serious foul play, eventually determining that it did not.

A post on the Premier League's Match Centre account was released a few minutes later claiming that Tarkowski had 'played the ball'. The post read: "The referee’s call of yellow card for a reckless foul by Tarkowski was checked by the VAR, with contact on the follow through after Tarkowski had played the ball deemed to be reckless."

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Arsenal have been unable to mount a title charge this term (Image: AP )

Rice bemoans Arsenal slip ups

Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has confessed the Gunners have "slipped up too many times" this season but insisted they will keep putting pressure on Liverpool until the end of the season. Mikel Arteta's men have fallen away in the title race with Liverpool building up a 15-point lead at one point.

He conceded Arsenal had dropped too many points after drawing ten games and losing three. "We know we’re behind them in the league," he told BBC Sport. "We can only control what we can do and that’s to win our eight games.

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"We’ve slipped up one too many times this season, we will keep hunting them down and keep putting pressure on them that’s all we can do."

Viktor Gyokeres is one of the most sought after strikers in Europe (Image: Bruno de Carvalho/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images )

Gyokeres not eyeing Manchester move

Viktor Gyokeres has seven clubs he would reportedly be open to joining - and the Red Devils aren't on his list. United are said to be targeting a new striker in the summer transfer window and Ruben Amorim's connections with the Swede have led to speculation that he's their top target.

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Amorim brought the Swedish striker to Sporting Lisbon for just £16.7m in 2023 and he went to score 66 goals in 68 games under him. Portuguese outlet A Bola claim that a move to United isn't on Gyokeres' mind. Instead, the 26-year-old would be open to joining Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG or Bayern Munich.

Gyokeres is currently under contract with Sporting until 2028. The Portuguese giants resisted offers last summer, with his release clause set at €100m (£84m).

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