Premier League official John Brooks has been taken off VAR duty for this evening's meeting between Liverpool and Everton after wrongly disallowing a goal in Crystal Palace's draw with Brighton on Saturday.
Roberto De Zerbi's side thought they had taken the lead through Ecuadorian defender Pervis Estupinan, though his strike was ruled out following a subsequent VAR review.
It later emerged the offside line had been drawn on the wrong defender, James Tomkins, as opposed to Palace's last man in defence: Marc Guehi. Had this been done correctly, the goal would have stood.
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Brighton later released a statement on the matter after the match, insisting they had received an apology for this error of judgement. "As was confirmed to the club by PGMOL last night, a serious error was made in disallowing Pervis Estupinan's goal at Crystal Palace yesterday afternoon," the club said. "The lines drawn in the VAR room to determine whether Pervis was in an offside position were drawn incorrectly, and the goal should have stood. While hugely disappointed by the error, the club has accepted PGMOL's apology and will not be making any further comment."
After this mistake, it has now been emerged that Brooks will no longer assume his VAR role for tonight's Merseyside derby or Wednesday's top-of-the-table clash between Arsenal and Manchester City. Andre Marriner will serve as Brooks' replacement in the Merseyside derby.
This comes after reports suggesting PGMOL chief Howard Webb has called for an emergency meeting for Premier League officials to take place tomorrow, following a separate VAR-related incident during Arsenal's 1-1 draw with Brentford. It was suggested the Bees' midfielder Christian Norgaard was offside in the build-up to the visitors' goal, though Lee Mason failed to use the system lines to check the position of the Dane prior to Ivan Toney's finish.
Tonight's match at Anfield kicks off at 8pm, with referee Simon Hooper taking charge of the action on the pitch.
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