Nottingham Forest have asked for an explanation from the Premier League and referees’ body PGMOL over Ivan Toney’s controversial free-kick that helped Brentford to a 3-2 win in west London on Saturday.

Toney moved the referee’s vanishing foam and shifted the ball to a more advantageous position before scoring from the set-piece, leading to complaints from Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo after the game.

The PA news agency understands that Forest have now written to both bodies demanding to know whether Toney’s actions, which the player himself insisted were legal, actually constituted foul play.

Forest want clarification on whether players are allowed to move the ball in such a manner prior to a set-piece and, if not, why VAR officials were not able to intervene.

Nuno rejected Toney’s claim after the game and added: “The law is clear – every situation that leads to a goal must be checked. It’s not even a matter of inches, it’s almost a yard.”

Toney’s goal was his first since his return from an eight-month gambling ban and helped Thomas Frank’s men leapfrog their opponents in the Premier League table.

The audio that led to Luis Diaz’s goal being wrongly disallowed by VAR in Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham has been released publicly by the Professional Game Match Officials Limited.

VAR Darren England and his assistant Daniel Cook did not over-rule the incorrect on-field decision of offside after Diaz had scored at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

PGMOL said in a statement on Tuesday evening that “standards fell short of expectations” and it has identified three key learnings “to mitigate against the risk of a future error”.

Liverpool said on Sunday they would explore their options given the “clear need for escalation and resolution” and PGMOL has provided a detailed report alongside the audio to the Premier League, which has in turn shared with Liverpool and the other 19 top-flight clubs.

Liverpool have criticised the Professional Game Match Officials Limited and warned they will “explore the range of options available” following the VAR controversy at Tottenham.

The PGMOL admitted VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook failed to act after Luis Diaz’s 34th-minute strike at Tottenham was wrongly ruled out for offside. Still images of the incident showed Cristian Romero playing Diaz onside.

The disallowed goal came with the match still goalless but after Curtis Jones had been controversially sent off following England’s intervention. Liverpool went on to lose 2-1.

The officials were stood down from duty for the rest of the weekend but Liverpool will continue to pursue the matter.

A statement read: “Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.

“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.

“It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.

“That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.

“This is vital for the reliability of future decision making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.

“In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.”

England was due to be fourth official at Sunday’s Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford, while Cook was to be assistant referee for Monday’s west London derby between Fulham and Chelsea.

But the PGMOL announced on Sunday morning that England, the main VAR official at Tottenham, had been replaced by Craig Pawson, while Eddie Smart will step in for Cook, who was the assistant VAR to England.

“Darren England, VAR on the Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool fixture, and Dan Cook, AVAR on the same game, have been replaced for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford and Fulham v Chelsea matches today and tomorrow night respectively,” a PGMOL statement said.

“Craig Pawson will now assume England’s duties as fourth official at the City Ground while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant referee at Craven Cottage.”

Son Heung-min put Spurs in front moments after Diaz’s goal was disallowed, and although Cody Gakpo levelled, Tottenham won 2-1 thanks to a stoppage-time own goal from Joel Matip, with Liverpool finishing the game with nine men after Diogo Jota also saw red.

In a statement on Saturday, PGMOL said: “PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool.

“The goal by 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.”

Liverpool have criticised the Professional Game Match Officials Limited and warned they will “explore the range of options available” following the VAR controversy at Tottenham.

The PGMOL admitted VAR officials Darren England and Dan Cook failed to act after Luis Diaz’s 34th-minute strike at Tottenham was wrongly ruled out for offside. Still images of the incident showed Cristian Romero playing Diaz onside.

The disallowed goal came with the match still goalless but after Curtis Jones had been controversially sent off following England’s intervention. Liverpool went on to lose 2-1.

The officials were stood down from duty for the rest of the weekend but Liverpool will continue to pursue the matter.

A statement read: “Liverpool Football Club acknowledges PGMOL’s admission of their failures last night. It is clear that the correct application of the laws of the game did not occur, resulting in sporting integrity being undermined.

“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.

“It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention.

“That such failings have already been categorised as ‘significant human error’ is also unacceptable. Any and all outcomes should be established only by the review and with full transparency.

“This is vital for the reliability of future decision making as it applies to all clubs with learnings being used to make improvements to processes in order to ensure this kind of situation cannot occur again.

“In the meantime, we will explore the range of options available, given the clear need for escalation and resolution.”

England was due to be fourth official at Sunday’s Premier League match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford, while Cook was to be assistant referee for Monday’s west London derby between Fulham and Chelsea.

But the PGMOL announced on Sunday morning that England, the main VAR official at Tottenham, had been replaced by Craig Pawson, while Eddie Smart will step in for Cook, who was the assistant VAR to England.

“Darren England, VAR on the Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool fixture, and Dan Cook, AVAR on the same game, have been replaced for the Nottingham Forest v Brentford and Fulham v Chelsea matches today and tomorrow night respectively,” a PGMOL statement said.

“Craig Pawson will now assume England’s duties as fourth official at the City Ground while Eddie Smart will take over from Cook as assistant referee at Craven Cottage.”

Son Heung-min put Spurs in front moments after Diaz’s goal was disallowed, and although Cody Gakpo levelled, Tottenham won 2-1 thanks to a stoppage-time own goal from Joel Matip, with Liverpool finishing the game with nine men after Diogo Jota also saw red.

In a statement on Saturday, PGMOL said: “PGMOL acknowledge a significant human error occurred during the first half of Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool.

“The goal by 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.”

The Professional Game Match Officials Limited has refuted Jurgen Klopp’s claims that referee Paul Tierney acted improperly during Liverpool’s 4-3 win against Tottenham on Sunday.

Klopp was shown a yellow card by Tierney for his wild celebrations in front of fourth official John Brooks after Diogo Jota’s stoppage-time winner at Anfield, just 99 seconds after Richarlison had hauled Tottenham level in a seven-goal thriller.

The Liverpool manager pulled his hamstring in the process and in his post-match interview heavily criticised Tierney, accusing the match official of speaking to him in a manner which “was not OK”.

But PGMOL said in a statement: “PGMOL is aware of the comments made by Jurgen Klopp after his side’s fixture with Tottenham Hotspur.

“Match officials in the Premier League are recorded in all games via a communications system and having fully reviewed the audio of referee Paul Tierney from today’s fixture, we can confirm he acted in a professional manner throughout including when issuing the caution to the Liverpool manager so, therefore, we strongly refute any suggestion that Tierney’s actions were improper.”

Klopp faces heavy censure by the Football Association for his comments and touchline behaviour.

The German escaped a touchline ban in October and was instead fined £30,000 by an independent commission following his sending-off for confronting referee Anthony Taylor during Liverpool’s match against Manchester City at Anfield.

After Liverpool had snatched victory against Tottenham, Klopp told Sky Sports: “We have our history with Tierney, I really don’t know what he has against us, he has said there is no problem but that cannot be true.

“How he looks at me, I don’t understand it. My celebration was unnecessary, which is fair but what he said to me when he gave me the yellow card is not OK.”

When asked what Tierney had said, Klopp added: “I will not say anything about it. The refs don’t say what is said so I don’t say what is said.”

Klopp reignited his long-running feud with Tierney and referred back to last season’s 2-2 draw against Tottenham in London.

Klopp said: “Paul Tierney didn’t give Harry Kane a red card but Robbo (Andy Robertson) got a red card. It was not the first time, there are so many things.”

On his celebration in front of the fourth official, Klopp added: “Of course, we are emotional in these moments. It’s difficult. It is not OK, we shouldn’t do that. Yes, we are role models but we are human beings first and foremost.

“I didn’t say a bad word to the fourth official – not at all – but I pulled my hamstring probably in that moment so, fair enough, I’m already punished.

“A fair punishment for behaving not the right away. I have pain for a few days, Mr Tierney not.”