Premier League release two statements after Liverpool VAR checks vs Leicester City

Curtis Jones scored Liverpool's second goal of the game but had to wait a while for VAR to confirm it before Cody Gakpo's strike was ruled out

The Premier League have confirmed that Darwin Nunez was in an offside position after Cody Gakpo was denied a second goal against Leicester City at Anfield. The Dutchman thumped into the back of the net for what would have been Liverpool's third of the evening after coming from a goal down, but the strike was ruled out after a lengthy wait.

Assistant referee Matthew Wilks' flag did go up immediately when Gakpo put the ball in the net, but after a check showed Mohamed Salah, whose cross was eventually deflected through to the Dutchman, was onside, it was Nunez who was subject to the next check.

And the Uruguayan was proven to be marginally ahead of Jannik Vestergaard after lines were carefully drawn at Stockley Park.

A statement on PL Match Centre on X (formerly Twitter) read: "The referee’s call of no goal was checked and confirmed by the VAR as Nunez was in an offside position in the build-up."

It was the second time that VAR had intervened after officials checked for a Salah offside in the build-up to Curtis Jones' goal to put the Reds ahead on the night.. The midfielder netted Liverpool's second of the game four minutes into the second half but had to wait several minutes for the goal to be confirmed.

It wasn't exactly clear what officials in Stockley Park were looking for, with Nunez clearly in an offside position and both Virgil van Dijk and Gakpo also potentially offside - but none were interfering with play at the time.

Instead it was Salah, who initially appeared comfortably onside, that officials were checking. The Egyptian slipped the ball through to Alexis Mac Allister for the Argentine to cross for Jones to score.

An earlier statement read: "The referee’s call of goal was checked and confirmed by the VAR as Salah was in an onside position in the build-up."

Liverpool had to work hard to get themselves back into the game against the struggling Foxes, with Jordan Ayew initially putting the visitors ahead at Anfield inside four minutes.

But Cody Gakpo's curling strike from outside the box put Liverpool back on level terms on the stroke of half-time before Jones struck on his 100th Premier League appearance.