Eagle-eyed fans spotted what Virgil van Dijk did to James Tarkowski after the Everton defender avoided a red card for a ‘reckless’ foul on Alexis Mac Allister.
Tarkowski contacted with the leg of Mac Allister in his follow-through after he slid in to win the ball in the first half.
He was shown a yellow card on the pitch by referee Samuel Barrott, with VAR official Paul Tierney then deciding not to recommend a change of decision to a red card.
The Premier League Match Centre confirmed that the tackle was ‘reckless’ but met the threshold for a booking rather than a sending off.
But unlike in the 2-2 draw at Goodison Park in February, Tarkowski couldn’t inspire Everton to a result on this occasion at Anfield.
Diogo Jota scored the only goal of the game in the second half to secure a 1-0 win for Liverpool, who move 12 points clear of second-placed Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table.
The Everton defender has now equalled a Premier League record, along with Oriol Romeu, for the most yellow cards without a red card in Premier League history (63).And Van Dijk also got ‘revenge’ for Tarkowski’s tackle on Mac Allister.
During the second half, the pair had an off-the-ball altercation in the penalty area, with the Liverpool captain shoving his opposite number to the turf.
Tarkowski quickly shrugged the incident off, though, and got back to his feet.He would later approach Mac Allister at full-time to seemingly discuss the tackle, though it wasn’t clear what either man said.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Everton manager David Moyes said of the incident: “My first thought was that it was a brilliant tackle for a derby game.
“It was a tackle that maybe we would have seen a few years ago, but I understand it nowadays that things are slightly different, with follows through et cetera.
“Yeah, we might have got a bit lucky.”
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