An investigation has been launched by the Football Association and PGMOL after an assistant referee appeared to throw an elbow at the Liverpool defender Andy Robertson during Arsenal’s thrilling 2-2 draw at Anfield.
A day of drama in the title race saw Arsenal squander a two-goal lead to end six points clear of Manchester City, who have a game in hand and a home match against Mikel Arteta’s side to come on April 26. But the battle for top spot was far from the only talking point.
Robertson alleged he was elbowed in the face by linesman Constantine Hatzidakis when he approached the official after the end of the first half. Robertson, who had been warned by the referee, Paul Tierney, for haranguing Hatzidakis earlier in the game, was booked for dissent after an incident that stunned Liverpool’s players and coaching staff.
Jurgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, declined to comment and said there had been no contact between his staff and the officials after the game.
“I didn’t see it and I now have obviously time to watch it but I didn’t just because I cannot give wrong answers,” said Klopp. “I heard the pictures speak for themselves. I cannot say more. I didn’t see a bit of it.”
The FA and PGMOL, the professional referees’ body, are investigating, with a statement reading: “PGMOL is aware of an incident involving assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis and Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson at half-time during the Liverpool v Arsenal fixture at Anfield. We will review the matter in full once the game has concluded.”
The same match officials were involved in controversy with Robertson and Liverpool last season, when the full-back was sent off and Harry Kane avoided a red card for a dangerous foul on the defender. Robertson could also be in trouble with the FA should it find that he man-handled Hatzidakis to instigate the incident.
Arteta: 'It feels like two points dropped'
In a pulsating game, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus scored within the first half-hour only for Mo Salah to pull a goal back before half-time, and miss a second-half penalty, before Roberto Firmino levelled in the 87th minute.
Arteta said: “When you concede at the end it always feels like two points dropped because you’re suffering in certain moments but you have it [the victory]. The feeling is: ‘We should have done it.’
“But, being fair, they had four big chances to have scored late on and they missed a penalty. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror. We should have done better in the second half.”
Arsenal were in complete control until Granit Xhaka intensified the atmosphere with an off-the-ball clash with Trent Alexander-Arnold late in the first half and from that point the momentum appeared to be with the hosts.
“We started very well, dominated, and took the game where we wanted,” Arteta said. “When we scored the second that was the moment to kill the game but just before half-time we gave them hope.
“The second half was a very different story. We didn’t continue to play. We relied on big defensive moments where Aaron [Ramsdale] took a big part of it.”
The Arsenal manager insisted his team would respond. “We’ve been responding for 31 games now,” he said. “Every single day is a test. The test now is how good are we going to be on Monday, and how well we prepare and play the way we want to play to beat West Ham.”
Klopp: 'We turned the game around'
Klopp described Liverpool’s comeback as another positive step, although the draw leaves his team 12 points adrift of Manchester United in the race for Champions League qualification.
“We were part of a spectacular game because we were good for an hour. It was a great reaction,” he said. “We turned the game around performance-wise and halfway results-wise.
“The question I had after the game was: ‘How did we not win?’ We looked better, more ready to fight back and in the second half we deserved at least a point.”
