'Absolute joke' - Man City fans fume at Premier League rule as John Stones suffers injury vs Everton

Manchester City supporters are furious with the Premier League's offside rule as John Stones suffered an injury against Everton in the Premier League.

The complaint came after the centre-back was forced to make a last-ditch challenge to prevent Beto from scoring. However, the Toffees' man was clearly in an offside position but the flag was belatedly raised. This is due to the top flight's use of VAR during their fixtures.

Officials in the Premier League are instructed to keep their flags down during potential offside incidents to allow play to come to a natural conclusion. This is to prevent a move being prematurely ruled offside when in actuality it was on.

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The PGMOL claim this allows game-altering mistakes to be prevented. But in practice, we have seen linesmen failing to make obvious calls and players risking their fitness to prevent opportunities - as was the case this evening with Stones.

It is fair to say City fans did not see the benefits of the rule this evening. Here is how some of them reacted on Twitter.

In truth, it has been a nightmare return to the Premier League for the world champions. After dominating the ball in the opening half an hour, the Blues were hit with a sucker-punch after Rodri lost possession in his box before former City man Jack Harrison scored.

Jordan Pickford has done well to prevent Julian Alvarez but Pep Guardiola will be hoping for more in the second half.