Manchester City should have been awarded a penalty in the build-up to Liverpool’s opening goal at Anfield on Sunday, according to Chris Sutton.
The Reds took the lead through a Fabinho effort early in the first half on Merseyside, but the ball appeared to strike the arm of Trent Alexander-Arnold in his own box just moments before.
And Sutton is in little doubt over whether or not the Brazilian’s goal should have stood.
Writing in a column for the Daily Mail, he said: “Manchester City have every right to be enraged. How was this not handball? Trent Alexander-Arnold’s arm was away from his body. It was in an unnatural position and the ball clearly struck it.
“This was the biggest moment of this match. The opening goal of this game was always going to be huge and VAR should have spotted Alexander-Arnold’s infringement.
“What a load of drivel. They should have chalked off Liverpool’s opener, and City should have had a penalty at Anfield.”
OPINION
No matter which way the referee called this one, somebody was going to end up fuming. The ball does appear to strike Alexander-Arnold’s arm, that much is true, and you would have to admit that not doesn’t appear to be in the most natural of positions. If its at the other end, you want it given. The counterpoint is, of course, that it actually hits Bernardo Silva’s arm first, and in that sense the game should probably have been stopped before it gets anywhere near the Liverpool defender. The only real difference, you could argue, is that the City player has less time to react to the ball spinning up in the direction of his hand. Either way, it’s probably fair to say that the game should have been stopped before Fabinho got into a position to open the scoring, but trying to decipher which way the decision should have gone is as complex and infuriating as it has ever been, VAR or not.
