John Brooks removed from VAR duty for Liverpool and Arsenal games | OneFootball

Premier League referee John Brooks has been removed from tonight’s Merseyside derby clash between Liverpool and Everton, according to the Daily Mail.

Brooks will also not be on duty for the top-of-the-table clash between Manchester City and Arsenal. The news comes after his mistake during the Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion match.

Brooks cancelled out Pervis Estupinan’s goal against the Eagles on Saturday after drawing the offside line from the wrong defender.

Marc Guehi was the last man, and the line should have started from him, but Brooks used James Tomkins instead.

The goal would stand if he used Guehi for the line. The game finished 1-1, with Solly March opening the scoring and Tomkins equalising minutes later.

Andre Marriner will assume the VAR duties in Brooks’ place for Liverpool versus Everton tonight. David Coote will handle Arsenal’s game against Man City on Wednesday evening.

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) confirmed that chief refereeing officer Howard Webb has reacted to this weekend’s officiating gaffes.

Webb first apologised and explained the VAR errors to the aggrieved parties. He has now taken action to reduce human errors.

This weekend, VAR came under fire for various mistakes.

Chelsea did not get a penalty when West Ham United’s Tomas Soucek diverted a Conor Gallagher shot away from the goal with his arm.

Brentford striker Ivan Toney scored an equaliser against Arsenal in their clash to halt their title charge, but Christian Norgaard was offside in the build-up to the goal.

Lee Mason forgot to draw the lines to determine if the goal was offside.

The Bees also had issues with the officiating after a legal Bryan Mbuemo goal did not count for a supposed foul on Gabriel Magalhaes. Mbuemo didn’t do anything wrong.

The incidents are not Mason’s first high-profile errors this season. In September, he disallowed a goal for Newcastle United in their home match against Palace.

PGMOL will announce the appointments for the next round of Premier League matches at midday tomorrow. It is unclear if Mason will be officiating any of the games.