Keys SLAMS PGMOL for appointing official days after he's involved in Saudi match

Richard Keys has slammed PGMOL for appointing Darren England as the VAR for Tottenham's clash with Liverpool - just days after he officiated in Saudi Arabia.

Controversy arose on Saturday after Luis Diaz looked to have given his side the lead, before his goal in the first-half was controversially ruled out for offside following a VAR review.

However, it later emerged that the decision was a result of a miscommunication between the on-field officials and those on VAR.

Darren England was the man tasked with VAR duties for the match, with Dan Cook acting as assistant VAR.

On Sunday morning, PGMOL confirmed that both England and Cook would step down from their roles for upcoming fixtures but Keys questioned the decision to appoint them in the first place.

In a Tweet, Keys wrote: 'Why was Michael Oliver in UAE to ref Thursday’s game between Al Sharjah v Al Ain? Darren England assisted in VAR.

'Oliver wasn’t involved yesterday. He’s VAR today. Too tired? If so why wasn’t England stood down? Better still - stop this freelancing. More in tomorrows blog'.

This week, according to The Sun, Oliver was approached by Saudi Arabia to begin officiating over in the middle east and, as a result, went to officiate the biggest match in the United Arab Emirates Pro League between Sharjah and Al Ain.

Oliver was also joined by England, who was on VAR duty, and assistants Stuart Burt and Dan Cook - who did not return to England until Friday night.

Despite Keys' claims, Oliver was in-fact on duty during the Tottenham and Liverpool clash on Saturday, as he took on the fourth official role - with England and Cook taking on VAR duties.

Almost immediately after the match, PGMOL admitted that Diaz's strike was incorrectly ruled out for offside and issued an apology to Liverpool.

'PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool,' the statement began.

'The goal but Luis Diaz was disallowed for offside by the on-field team of match officials. This was a clear and obvious factual error and should have resulted in the goal being awarded through VAR intervention, however, the VAR failed to intervene.

'PGMOL will conduct a full review into the circumstances which led to the error.

'PGMOL will immediately be contacting Liverpool at the conclusion of the fixture to acknowledge the error.'

The incident drew criticisms from fans, analysts and even managers - as Jurgen Klopp lashed out at the error during a post-match interview.

After hearing the statement, Klopp said: 'Does that help? No. We had that situation at the Man United game (against Wolves last month) – did they get points for that? No. We will not get points for it today so it doesn't help.

'Nobody expects 100 per cent right decisions on field. I think we all thought when VAR came in, it might make things easier. I don't know why people are acting under that much pressure. Today the decision was made really quickly for the goal. It changed the momentum of the game.'