Premier League panel decide disallowed Virgil van Dijk goal SHOULD have stood in new twist

The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel believe Virgil van Dijk's disallowed goal in Liverpool's 3-0 loss to Manchester City SHOULD have stood.

However, it has also been determined that VAR was right not to overturn the on-field decision after the Dutchman's powerful header was ruled out by Chris Kavanagh's assistant, Stuart Burt.

The Premier League champions would have levelled the game at 1-1 had Van Dijk's header not been ruled out due to the fact that Andy Robertson was standing in an offside position. It was ruled that the Scotland defender was in the eye-line of Gianluigi Donnarumma as he ducked to allow the ball to pass him.

The Times have now revealed that the KMI panel have gone against the judgement of Kavanagh and Burt, though they also found that the VAR official in question, Michael Oliver, was right not to intervene. The panel is made up of three former players or coaches, one representative from the Premier League and one from the PGMOL.

Liverpool boss Arne Slot was furious following the defeat to City. “I think it is obvious and clear the wrong decision has been made,” he said. “He [Robertson] didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper can do.”

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Such was the Reds' anger, they contacted the PGMOL chief, Howard Webb, to express concern over the decision. Webb offered a defence of the decision this week, admitting that Donnarumma saw 'the ball all the way' but that it was 'not unreasonable' for the officials to reach the conclusion they did.

The assistant referee was heard saying: "Robertson's in line of vision, right in front of the 'keeper. He's ducked under the ball. He's very, very close to him. I think he's [in] line of vision. I think he's (Donnarumma) been impacted, mate."

"Okay, so offside then," Kavanagh replied. His assistant then reaffirmed: "I think offside."

The full VAR audio was made public on Tuesday, with Michael Oliver at Stockley Park stating: "Chris [Kavanagh], it's Michael. Confirming the on-field decision of offside against Andy Robertson.

"He's in an offside position, very close to the goalkeeper and makes an obvious movement directly in front of him. Check complete, offside."

Webb detailed that the correct process was followed. "They form the conclusion that it impacts Donnarumma's ability to dive towards the ball and make the save," he said.

"Once they've made that on-field decision, the job of the VAR is to look at that and decide was the outcome clearly and obviously wrong. Only Donnarumma truly knows if he was impacted by this and we have to look at the factual evidence."