Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp expressed his dissatisfaction over the quality of decision-making by the referees during their Premier League fixture against Arsenal. The Merseyside club was defeated 3-2 at the Emirates, which continued Arsenal’s stay at the top of the table as Liverpool slipped to 10th. 

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp expressed his dissatisfaction over the quality of decision-making by the referees during their Premier League fixture against Arsenal. The Merseyside club was defeated 3-2 at the Emirates, which continued Arsenal’s stay at the top of the table as Liverpool slipped to 10th. 

With the game hanging in balance at 2-2, Thiago Alcantara’s tackle on Gabriel Jesus was deemed a penalty, much to the disappointment of the Liverpool players. The contact appeared to be minimal, but both their feet did come together and referee Michael Oliver pointed to the penalty spot. 

Bukayo Saka stepped up to take the penalty and smashed it to the right of Alison, who guessed it right but couldn’t come close to stopping it. This controversial penalty call turned out to be the winner for Mikel Arteta’s men, who ended their dry spell against Liverpool, registering their first win in the league against them in a long time. 

There was another case of a handball, this time in the Arsenal penalty box. Gabriel Magalhaes was found handling the ball in the box, but Oliver called it an accidental collision. The Video Assistant Referee did not intervene as well, which increased frustration further in the Liverpool camp. 

“Before the season, we had a big meeting with the refs and they said no soft penalties anymore. Then we’ve seen already this season which kind of situations we have for handball and there were penalties with exactly the same situations, but not in this game,” Klopp said after the match. 

He also accused Bukayo Saka was in an offside position during the build-up for the first goal scored by Gabriel Martinelli. He added that the club were not here to show how good they were, but to win the game. The frustrating evening finished with the second defeat of the season for Liverpool, which was also the sixth game this season where they dropped points. 

Liverpool have a set of tricky fixtures coming up, including the big one against Manchester City the coming weekend. City, who are just a point behind Arsenal, is enjoying a stellar start to the season and will make the Reds run for their money.