Video Assistant Referee John Brooks has been stood down from tonight’s Merseyside derby and Wednesday’s crucial Premier League title clash between Arsenal and Manchester City.
Brooks was on VAR duty for Saturday’s game between Brighton and Crystal Palace, where the Seagulls were incorrectly denied a goal after the wrong player was used when drawing lines to check an offside.
Brooks will be replaced by Andre Marriner for tonight’s game at Anfield and David Coote for Wednesday’s at the Emirates.
Brooks’ blunder was one of two high-profile mistakes this weekend, with Brentford’s equaliser in their draw with Arsenal wrongly allowed to stand after VAR Lee Mason failed to properly check for offside against Christian Norgaard in the build-up.
Referees chief Howard Webb has called all officials to an emergency meeting tomorrow after Professional Game Match Officials Limited issued a statement confirming both botched decisions had been a result of “human error”.
"PGMOL can confirm its Chief Refereeing Officer Howard Webb has contacted both Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion to acknowledge and explain the significant errors in the VAR process,” a PGMOL statement read.
"Both incidents, which were due to human error and related to the analysis of offside situations, are being thoroughly reviewed by PGMOL."
