Referee Anthony Taylor and his VAR team may have made a big mistake in the recent Everton defeat as they failed to send off Aymeric Laporte.
What’s the latest on VAR and Everton?
It was a near-perfect weekend in the Premier League for Manchester City and co as they extended their lead at the top of the table with a win.
Not only that, but with title rivals Arsenal losing 3-0 at home to Brighton and Hove Albion, it looks as though the division will be won by City once again.
Sadly, at the other end of the table, it was a miserable afternoon for the Toffees.
Their loss at Goodison Park came largely thanks to a moment of brilliance from Ilkay Gundogan which was swiftly followed by the inevitable Erling Haaland goal, before the German then made it 3-0 later on with a sumptuous free kick.
However, when the score was still 0-0, the Cityzens can perhaps count themselves a bit fortunate that Laporte wasn’t set off.
Indeed, as you can see in this footage, the defender clearly lashes out towards Everton defender Yerry Mina.
Did Laporte punch Yerry Mina?
Perhaps Laporte is saved by the fact that Mina makes an absolute meal out of the situation and so it looks as though he’s exaggerating the whole incident.
However, the fact is, the Man City centre-back clenches a fist and strikes the opposition player on the arm.
After all, as per the official FA Rules, it is violent conduct and therefore a red card when a player “attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball, or against a team-mate, team official, match official, spectator or any other person, regardless of whether contact is made.”
And so, some may argue that Laporte doesn’t make a whole lot of contract with Mina, but the rules say that isn’t relevant and as he clenches his fist and lashes out, it certainly seems as though he had attempted to use “excessive force”.
Remarkably, however – despite journalist Patrick Boyland noting on Twitter: “Mina down after contact from Laporte. VAR has to look at this surely…” – the incident was not reviewed and so the officials really seemed to drop the ball here.
Man City reporter for The Athletic Sam Lee certainly seemed to be less than impressed by the moment of madness, as he simply wrote: “Laporte mate.”
All in all, it seems the Spain international got away with one here. Who knows, had he been sent off, perhaps Everton would have got something from the game, breathing life into the relegation battle and disrupting the title race too