Bernardo Silva does not think Manchester City should have had a goal disallowed in Sunday's defeat to Liverpool as the midfielder criticised referee Anthony Taylor for a lack of consistency.
City suffered their first league defeat of the season as they fell to a 1-0 loss at Anfield, with Mohamed Salah scoring a brilliant second-half winner.
Before that, Phil Foden had a goal wiped out following a VAR review, with referee Taylor urged to watch a replay on the pitchside monitor – a shirt-pull by Erling Haaland on Fabinho in the build-up led to the strike being disallowed.
That ultimately cost the champions a point, and Silva was particularly disgruntled by Taylor's decision given how he had refereed the game until that moment.
He told Sky Sports: "What we expect from the referees is consistency in the decisions.
"When you go through a path of not whistling little contacts through the whole game, you need to keep those decisions and keep going that way.
"If you want to whistle all of them, whistle all of them, but if from the beginning of the game you are not whistling all the little fouls, and we saw in this game the referee was letting us play, which is good, it's fine.
"Then, if there's a goal, you cannot whistle that soft one.
"If you want consistency from the referee, you cannot change just because there's a goal and just because it's a tough decision.
"You have to make the tough decision and keep the goal in my opinion."
Al-Hilal 3-1 Al-Ettifaq: Champions return to the summit with dominant win
Al-Hilal surged back to the Saudi Pro League summit with a convincing 3-1 triumph over 10-man Al-Ettifaq on Friday.
The defending champions are now one point clear of Al-Ittihad in the standings, with their latest victory piling more misery on Al-Ettifaq boss, Steven Gerrard.
Al-Hilal struggled in the early exchanges at the Kingdom Arena, registering their first effort on Marek Rodak's goal in the 38th minute courtesy of Marcos Leonardo.
But the hosts would take the lead in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, with Mitrovic on hand to steer Renan Lodi's delivery into the net from close range.
Al-Hilal then doubled their advantage nine minutes from time when Malcolm collected the ball from Abdullah Al Hamddan, before rounding Rodak and finishing into an empty net.
However, hopes of a comeback from the visitors were revived in second-half stoppage time when Joao Cancelo gave away a penalty after a handball inside the box.
Vitinho stepped up and fired home the spot-kick, but Al-Hilal confirmed the win two minutes later through Mohammed Al Qahtani, with visiting forward Abdullah Radif shown a late red card for violent conduct.
Data Debrief: Happy Friday!
Al-Hilal continued their quest for a 20th Saudi Pro League crown with a dominant display against Al-Ettifaq, extending their unbeaten run against their opponents in the process.
They have now not lost their last 13 league encounters against Al-Ettifaq (W12 D1), surpassing their longest unbeaten streak against them in the competition (12 matches between 2008 and 2013 - W8 D4).
Al-Hilal have now lost only three matches when hosting teams on a Friday in the Pro League out of 55 matches (W46 D6 L3).
Lodi also took his goal contribution tally to eight this season in all competitions (three goals, five assists). During his European career with three different clubs, he only notched more goal involvements (nine) in the 2021-22 campaign with Atletico Madrid.
'Outstanding' Jones has improved since becoming a father, says Slot
Arne Slot believes Curtis Jones' upturn in form for Liverpool has coincided with the 23-year-old recently becoming a father for the first time.
Jones has played a starring role for the Reds in recent weeks, which has earned him a call-up by Lee Carsley for England’s upcoming Nations League fixtures this month.
The midfielder shone during Liverpool's 4-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, notching a sublime assist for Luis Diaz's 61st minute opener.
Jones also created the joint-most chances (three) along with Ryan Gravenberch at Anfield, and is now pushing Dominik Szoboszlai for a starting spot in Liverpool's midfield.
"With Curtis he became a fighter and I had nothing to do with that. Since the moment he became a father [last month], he started putting great performances in," Slot said.
"He already did in the first few weeks of pre-season and I thought he was a quality player.
"His performances dropped a bit but from the moment he became a father he has been outstanding again.
"It might have a bit to do with that, but I think it is more to do with how the team plays. As a result of that, individual performances are good as well."
Jones has started four of the Reds' last six games in all competitions, notching four goal contributions (one goal, three assists) in those games.
But the midfielder has had to bide his time under Slot, with the Liverpool boss challenging Jones to add consistency to his game in the coming weeks.
"He has a lot of qualities on the ball, when he has it he's never afraid to do something special. Sometimes he is a bit too over-confident but confidence is important," Slot added.
"He also has an incredibly high work-rate and we can trust him defensively. You saw how he performed against Cole Palmer.
"If he wants to continue progressing he has to show every three days these performances."
Liverpool's fine start to the season continued with their midweek thrashing of Leverkusen, and they are now top of the Premier League and Champions League tables.
The Reds' victory over Brighton in the league saw Slot become just the fifth manager to win as many as eight of his first 10 Premier League games in charge, after John Gregory (1998), Guus Hiddink (2009), Carlo Ancelotti (2009) and Ange Postecoglou (2023).
Of the previous four, only Postecoglou failed to win his 11th match in the competition, though Slot faces a stern test this weekend when Aston Villa visit Merseyside.
The Dutchman, however, insisted that his side's flying start to the season had not come as a surprise.
"I don't think surprise is the right word to use because I knew the quality of our team. But quality is one thing and consistency is another," Slot concluded.
"I am not surprised because I saw the energy my players put in on a daily basis.
"Sometimes a bit of luck comes with us as well. Most of our results were deserved, but some have been a close call.
"In general, I'm not surprised because of the quality that was in the team and when I started working with them, I saw how much effort they put in to get these results."
Slot: Hard work got Liverpool to where they are this season
Arne Slot believes hard work and intensity have been key to Liverpool's form ahead of their Premier League meeting with Aston Villa on Saturday.
Slot has won 14 of his 16 matches in all competitions since taking charge at Anfield and, despite his magnificent start, he pointed out that it has not been easy.
"You only look at results. Brighton was a difficult one on Saturday where we were 1-0 behind and had to fight really hard and that is what you saw," he told the Independent.
"We have to work really hard with incredibly high intensity to win our games and that has a lot to do with teams who think Anfield is the best place to play, so every team we play against is at the top of their game. If you want to win you always have to be consistent in your intensity."
Having taken over from Jurgen Klopp, it was understandable that expectations had lowered when Slot took over, but after a stellar start to the season, Slot said he was unconcerned by the pressure.
"I think if you work at any club around the world there is always pressure. For some managers it is not to go down, for some they have to win a lot,” he added.
"In our position, there is always pressure and that is the pressure we give ourselves."
Villa, meanwhile, go into this game having lost back-to-back games against Tottenham in the Premier League and Club Brugge in the Champions League.
A bizarre penalty conceded by Tyrone Mings provided the winner for the Belgian side on Wednesday, but Unai Emery was still pleased with the intensity his side showed.
"The first half we played like we were planning... It was a mistake," Emery said after that game.
"It is difficult and here it is not strange. You watched the match and [Villa] playing, they finished exhausted. It was not intensity, it was that the match changed completely after our mistake."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
No player has been involved in more Premier League goals than Mohamed Salah (12) so far this season, with seven goals and five assists. He has also had the most touches in the opposition box this term (96), while of players to have had 20+ shots, no-one has hit a higher percentage of them on target (67% - 20/30).
The Egyptian has scored in four of his last five appearances at Anfield in all competitions, while he was also credited with two assists in the 4-0 victory over Leverkusen last time out.
Aston Villa – Ollie Watkins
Only Erling Haaland (16) has had more big chances than Ollie Watkins (14) in the Premier League this season.
While Watkins has only scored five league goals, with four of those coming from the big chances, he is still Villa's top goalscorer.
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
Liverpool have won five of their last six home games against Villa (D1), while the visitors have lost 16 of their last 18 Premier League away games against sides starting top of the table (D2).
A large part of Liverpool's early-season success has come from their defence, with only Manchester City (32) facing fewer shots on target than them (34) in the league. Liverpool, meanwhile, have conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League (six).
Slot is also only the fifth manager to win eight of his first 10 Premier League matches in charge, with the club also unbeaten in their last seven (W5 D2) against Villa.
Slot's side have won four and lost one of their five home games in the league this season, accruing the joint third-most points (12).
However, Liverpool have conceded the first goal in their last two Premier League games but avoided defeat in both (2-2 v Arsenal, 2-1 v Brighton). Indeed, their win against Brighton was the 100th time they have come from behind to win a Premier League match, the third team to reach this milestone in the competition.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Liverpool – 61.8%
Draw – 19.7%
Aston Villa – 18.4%
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