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Referee John Brooks is REMOVED from VAR duty for tonight’s Merseyside derby AND Arsenal’s title clash with Man City on Wednesday, as Howard Webb performs after weekend of mistakes
- VAR John Brooks was criticized for an error in Brighton’s draw with Palace
- Brighton were denied a goal by the referee after incorrectly drawing the offside lines
- It has been removed from VAR service for the Merseyside Derby and Arsenal vs Man City.
Referee John Brooks has been removed from VAR service for tonight’s Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton and Wednesday’s title clash between Arsenal and Man City after his horror mistake to disallow a goal from Brighton against Crystal Palace.
In a weekend where VAR came under heavy fire, Brooks scored Pervis Estupinan’s goal against the Eagles on Saturday, which would have been the opening goal, after drawing the wrong defender’s offside line.
The line was drawn from James Tomkins instead of last man Marc Guehi, who was standing behind him. The goal would have stood if Guehi had served it correctly.
The match between Brighton and Palace ended 1-1, with the Seagulls opening the scoring through Solly March before Tomkins equalized for Palace.
Andre Marriner and David Coote will take over VAR duties in his place for Liverpool v Everton tonight and Arsenal’s game against Man City on Wednesday night respectively.
Referee John Brooks has been removed from VAR duty for tonight’s Merseyside Derby
Brooks drew the wrong defender’s line when he incorrectly ruled out Pervis Estupinan’s early goal
The PGMOL confirmed the news in a statement, saying: ‘John Brooks has been replaced as VAR for both Liverpool v Everton tonight and Arsenal v Manchester City on Wednesday night.
Andre Marriner and David Coote will take over VAR duties in his place tonight and Wednesday respectively. Due to a match on Monday night, appointments for the weekend matches will be announced tomorrow.
Brighton said they had received an apology from PGMOL for the error.
“As confirmed to the club by PGMOL last night, a serious mistake was made in disallowing Pervis Estupinan’s goal at Crystal Palace yesterday afternoon,” the club said.
It came on a weekend of VAR terror in which Lee Mason failed to draw offside lines for Brentford’s draw against Arsenal.
‘The lines drawn in the VAR room to determine if Pervis was in an offside position were drawn incorrectly, and the goal should have stood.
“Although hugely disappointed by the error, the club has accepted PGMOL’s apology and will have no further comment.”
Brooks was also scheduled to be on VAR duty for Arsenal’s pivotal game against Manchester City on Wednesday. Gunners fans may have been concerned by the initial news after they fell victim to another howler the same weekend.
Video official Lee Mason was widely reprimanded after he failed to draw the offside lines for Brentford’s equalizer against Arsenal.
Howard Webb has acted after calling officials to an emergency meeting after two VAR howls on Saturday
Christian Norgaard was in an offside position when he crossed for Ivan Toney and the goal would have been disallowed if VAR lines had been drawn.
Sportsmail reported on Sunday that referee chief Howard Webb had called an emergency meeting and was considering firing Brooks and Mason following the high-profile blunders.
The new boss was forced to contact the Gunners and European hopefuls Brighton to “acknowledge significant errors in the VAR process”, according to refereeing body PGMOL.
Their statement added: “Both incidents, which were due to human error and related to the analysis of offside situations, are being thoroughly reviewed.”