Man City vs Liverpool ref watch: Three decisions Chris Kavanagh got absolutely wrong
Manchester City secured a vital 3-0 victory over Premier League title rivals Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.
After Arsenal dropped points against Sunderland on Saturday, Man City and Liverpool had an opportunity to close the gap on the Gunners, and it was Pep Guardiola’s men who seized that chance.
Despite Erling Haaland missing a controversial penalty, with Giorgi Mamardashvili pulling off an outstanding save, it was the hosts who dominated the first half and scored twice.
Haaland’s brilliant glancing header put his side in front before a Nico Gonzalez thunderbolt doubled City’s lead on the stroke of half-time.
The visitors pushed to get back into the game, but that left them vulnerable to more outstanding attacking play, and Jeremy Doku curled a wonderful strike into the top corner to make it 3-0.
Following an enthralling encounter, Football Insider has analysed three decisions Chris Kavanagh did not get right.
Jeremy Doku shouldn’t have been awarded a penalty
Doku continued his recent stunning form against Liverpool by terrorising Conor Bradley down the left flank.
Bradley stood up to his task well, but the 23-year-old’s blistering pace was too hot to handle at times and that was the case during one penalty incident.
Doku went down in the box after minimal contact from Mamardashvili, and referee Kavanagh initially waved claims of a spot kick away.
However, after a VAR review, Kavanagh overturned the decision and said: “After review, the goalkeeper commits a foul challenge on the attacker, the final decision is penalty.”
That was the wrong call from the referee, who should have realised that there wasn’t enough contact on Doku to warrant awarding a spot kick.
Virgil van Dijk’s goal was wrongly ruled out
Liverpool were hard done by against Man City, as another decision arguably went against them when Virgil van Dijk’s goal was ruled out.
Van Dijk directed Mohamed Salah’s corner past Gianluigi Donnarumma with a bullet header, but the goal was disallowed after Andy Robertson was deemed to be infringing the goalkeeper.
However, it could be argued that Donnarumma was never reaching a header that was powered perfectly into the right corner.
Common sense should have prevailed in this instance, although Kavanagh decided to award the goal and the Reds would have been fuming.
Josko Gvardiol should have been booked
In the second half, Florian Wirtz was breaking on the counterattack and Josko Gvardiol made a cynical challenge to bring him down.
Kavanagh dished out six yellow cards during the match, but opted against giving one to Gvardiol, even though it was a nailed-on caution.
All in all, Liverpool were deservedly beaten by City, though some key decisions did go against them and that would have frustrated Slot.