Curtis Jones scored Liverpool’s second goal of the game, but had to wait for VAR confirmation, as Cody Gakpo’s earlier strike was ruled out.
The Premier League confirmed that Darwin Nunez was in an offside position after Gakpo’s goal was disallowed in the 3-1 win over Leicester City at Anfield.
Gakpo’s powerful shot seemed to put Liverpool 3-1 ahead after they had come from a goal down, but the goal was ruled out after a lengthy VAR review. Although assistant referee Matthew Wilks had flagged immediately when Gakpo scored, a check showed that Mohamed Salah, whose cross deflected to Gakpo, was onside. The next check focused on Nunez, who was found to be offside.
The Uruguayan was found to be slightly ahead of Jannik Vestergaard after lines were carefully drawn at Stockley Park.
A statement on the Premier League Match Centre on X (formerly Twitter) clarified: “The referee’s call of no goal was checked and confirmed by VAR as Nunez was in an offside position in the build-up.”
This marked the second time VAR was involved, as officials had previously checked for a potential offside by Salah in the build-up to Curtis Jones’ goal, which put Liverpool ahead. Jones scored Liverpool’s second four minutes into the second half, but had to wait several minutes for the goal to be confirmed.
It wasn’t entirely clear what officials at Stockley Park were reviewing, as Nunez was obviously offside, and both Virgil van Dijk and Gakpo were also potentially in offside positions—though none were involved in the play at the time. Instead, officials focused on Salah, who initially seemed comfortably onside. Salah had slipped the ball to Alexis Mac Allister, who then crossed for Jones to score.
