Assistant referee’s ‘elbow’ on Andy Robertson to be reviewed by PGMOL

The refereeing body PGMOL is to investigate after the Liverpool defender Andy Robertson appeared to be elbowed by the assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis in the match against Arsenal at Anfield.

PGMOL said it intends to review the extraordinary incident which happened after the half-time whistle was blown, with Robertson remonstrating with and possibly coming into contact with the assistant referee.

Sky Sports cameras zooming in on the confrontation showed Hatzidakis then seemingly throwing up his arm and making contact with Robertson, who gesticulated that he had been hit by the official. An irate Robertson was led away by teammates including Mohamed Salah but, while he received a yellow card in the aftermath, it is the action of Hatzidakis that is likely to come under further scrutiny.

“The PGMOL is aware of an incident involving assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis and Liverpool defender Andrew Robertson at half-time during the Liverpool v Arsenal fixture at Anfield,” the Premier League referees’ body said in a statement. “We will review the matter in full once the game has concluded.”

The issue of confrontations between players and officials has had greater prominence in the past few weeks given the Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic was recently given an eight-match ban for pushing the referee Chris Kavanagh in the Cottagers’ FA Cup defeat against Manchester United last month.

But the former Manchester United captain Gary Neville believes it will be Hatzidakis who finds himself in hot water. “I’ve never seen an official raise an elbow to a player,” Neville said on Sky Sports. “I think he’ll be in a lot of trouble after this game ends.”

Roy Keane, another former Manchester United captain, pointed the finger