BLUNDER VAR John Brooks has been AXED by refs’ chief Howard Webb after his wrong line shocker at Crystal Palace.
Brooks was due to be on VAR duty for tonight’s Merseyside derby and Wednesday top of the Prem clash between Arsenal and Manchester City.
But Webb has acted immediately after Brooks wrongly ruled out Pervis Estupinan’s first-half goal for Brighton at Selhurst Park.
Brooks drew the offside line from James Tomkins to decide the South American was offside.
But he MISSED the fact that Marc Guehi was standing BEHIND Tomkins and would have played Estupinan onside.
Webb, who has summoned all the PGMOL officials to an compulsory “emergency” meeting tomorrow, decided that Brooks had to carry the can for his errors.
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It comes after he also apologised to Arsenal for VAR Lee Mason’s failure to spot TWO offsides in the lead-up to Brentford’s equaliser at the Emirates on Saturday.
Mason even FORGOT to draw the lines to check if Christian Norgaard was offside in the build-up to Ivan Toney’s equaliser.
Brooks will be replaced at Stockley Park by Andre Marriner for tonight’s Merseyside derby, with David Coote taking over on Wednesday.
Both clubs have been contacted by the Premier League, who are investigating how human error led to the incorrect calls being made.
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But that will be of little help to league leaders Arsenal who can point to refereeing mistakes in every Prem game they have dropped points in.
That includes the decision to chalk off Gabriel Martinelli’s goal against Manchester United for a supposed Martin Odegaard foul on Christian Eriksen, which the Premier League now accept was the wrong call.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
