Liverpool drew 1-1 with West Ham at the London Stadium, which was another dent in their title charge this season.
Sadio Mane scored the goal for Liverpool, but it was shrouded in controversy. James Milner supplied the cross to Mane, and he was offside by a considerable margin. The linesman failed to flag Milner, and the goal stood. Michail Antonio equalised for West Ham in before half-time, and neither side failed to net a winner.
After the game, Jurgen Klopp said that referee Kevin Friend “did not want to open the gap any more” in the second half.
“I heard our goal was offside, I’m pretty sure the ref knew that,” Klopp told BBC Sport after the 1-1 draw. In 50-50 situations it was always a free-kick for the other team, which was hard and did not make life easy.”
The German further said, “As a human being, if I know I have made a big mistake in the first half, I don’t want to open the gap any more. Referees are obviously human beings, and I understand that, but I didn’t during the game because I had no clue that our goal was offside.”
Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table is now just three points, and they will hope to extend that when they host Bournemouth next week.