Anthony Taylor judged Arsenal defender Jakub Kiwior to have fouled Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai in the build-up to what would have been a late Gabriel Jesus winner on Sunday evening. Arsenal eventually had the ball in the net through Jesus after Kai Havertz found himself through on goal.
Whilst some of the players started to celebrate – as did thousands of fans – Taylor and Liverpool had stopped play prior. Even Sky Sports commentator Peter Drury was caught unaware of just what had happened.
football.london understands that despite Havertz being involved in an incident of possible handball, Taylor had already made the call to halt proceedings due to Kiwior jumping over Szoboszlai. Arsenal’s players were left furious with the outcome as they lost the chance to steal three points in the last minute of normal time.
Meeting an aerial ball, Kiwior clambers over a Szoboszlai, who did not jump – although the Hungarian midfielder did not go to ground and the Arsenal man did – leading it into the path of Havertz. He battled with Ibrahima Konate for the ball just inside the penalty area, before shaking off a challenge and lobbing the ball goalwards.
After Havertz got the better of Konate, Taylor went to his whistle, however most players did not seem to realise. In the seconds to follow, Havertz struck his shot delicately on the half volley, watching it bounce and hit the post as Trent Alexander-Arnold attempted to clear the ball.
Mikel Merino, watching from the centre of the pitch, started to celebrate the goal as Havertz pushed to bundle it over the line. So did Ethan Nwaneri, Leandro Trossard, and Jesus, who knocked the ball in from close range. Kiwior had already noticed Taylor blowing up and turned around in anger.
Virgil van Dijk was quick to protest the challenge on Szoboszlai. Replays then showed the ball had hit Havertz’s arm during his leap with Konate. The decision was made by Taylor for the initial Kiwior incident, though.
Instead of letting play continue and having VAR review matters, Taylor blowing stopped any chance of the goal being given. According to former referee Mike Dean, it could have gone either way.
“It’s more of a soft foul if anything, to be fair he’s just penalised the Arsenal player,” he explained. “It’s probably a 50-50 call, for me. He’s had a good game the referee, so I can’t criticise him for that to be honest with you.”
