In the 80th minute of today’s marquee Premier League encounter between Merseyside rivals Liverpool and Everton, the Toffees were awarded a penalty after a bizarre set of circumstances.
Boyhood Everton fan Tom Davies sparked a counter-attacking opportunity in firing the ball out wide, with Richarlison beating Nat Phillips with a wonderful shift of his body in some smart play.
The Brazilian charged forward before threading a dangerous through ball into the path of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who ultimately got the better of Trent Alexander-Arnold in a foot race.
Calvert-Lewin fired a first-time shot at goal, that was saved by Alisson, but Alexander-Arnold’s attempt at blocking the strike ended up tripping the centre-forward as he went for a rebound.
Referee Chris Kavanagh pointed to the spot before embarking on a VAR review of the moment. The official only checked the pitch-side monitor for a few second before sticking with his decision.
Substitute Gylfi Sigurdsson stepped up and tucked the ball into the bottom corner, Alisson went the right way but this strike was perfectly slotted away.
Alexander-Arnold realistically had little chance of ever catching Calvert-Lewin, as the striker only entered the pitch as a 62nd minute substitute for James Rodriguez, who created the Toffees’ first.
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Pictures from Sky Sports and RMC Sport.
This decision is incredibly harsh on the Reds, Alexander-Arnold did his defensive duty in trying to block the shot and was unfortunate to see his obviously trailing self knock Calvert-Lewin over.
It’s just an unfortunate situation that really couldn’t have been avoided much when you think about, Calvert-Lewin had an open goal to rebound into, either decision would’ve left one team incredibly hard done by – unfortunately it’s fell on Liverpool on this mammoth encounter at their home.
We can’t wait to hear Jurgen Klopp’s post-match thoughts on this incident, Carlo Ancelotti’s men may well have benefited from an almighty stroke of fortune.