VAR duo return to Premier League after Liverpool error

Darren England and Daniel Cook are to return to Premier League duty for the first time since their error during Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham.

England and Cook were the VAR and assistant VAR when Luis Diaz’s goal for Liverpool was incorrectly ruled out for offside in their 2-1 loss last month.

The duo was benched for two subsequent matches that weekend and disqualified from participating in the upcoming round of games.

 

England will be the fourth official as Brentford host Burnley on Saturday.

Cook was appointed as an assistant referee for Sheffield United’s upcoming home match against Manchester United, scheduled for this Saturday.

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) released public audio recordings of the conversations among the match officials regarding the disallowed goal by Diaz.

The goal was disallowed on the field by referee Simon Hooper and VAR England said the check was “perfect”, before swearing when he realised a mistake had been made.

Howard Webb, the head of referees, mentioned that measures have been implemented to prevent a recurrence of the controversy.

Additionally, Hooper will make his comeback as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) during Newcastle’s upcoming home game against Crystal Palace this Saturday.

Meanwhile, Michael Oliver will be the referee as Manchester United visit Bramall Lane on Saturday.

At the beginning of this month, Oliver chose not to give a red card to Manchester City’s Mateo Kovacic for a tackle on Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, and Howard Webb later expressed that the Croatian midfielder was very lucky to remain on the pitch.