‘I’m not even biased’ – Marc Guehi admits he could have been sent off as Arne Slot rages over referee’s decision

Arne Slot believes it is ‘clear and obvious’ that Manchester City should have been reduced to ten men in their 2-1 win at Liverpool.

The Reds boss was left furious with the decision not to upgrade Marc Guehi’s yellow card to a red at Anfield on Sunday.

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Guehi avoided further punishment following a VAR review into his foul on Mohamed Salah.

With the match level at 0-0 in the 69th minute, the City defender pulled back Salah as he ran through on goal.

It was subsequently deemed that Guehi had not denied a clear goalscoring opportunity, with the visitors keeping 11 players on the pitch.

However, Liverpool would still take the lead just five minutes later through Dominik Szoboszlai.

Having escaped a red card, City pulled off a thrilling late comeback after Bernardo Silva equalised with six minutes to play.

Erling Haaland’s stoppage time penalty then sealed all three points during a frantic additional period.

There was still time for Szoboszlai to be sent off after VAR intervened to rule out a third City goal.

Following the match, both Guehi and Slot gave their thoughts on initial red card decision by referee Craig Pawson.

Marc my words

Speaking to talkSPORT’s Chief Football correspondent Alex Crook, the England defender was asked if his challenge on Salah could have warranted a red.

To which Guehi admitted: “Maybe. It could have been, but that’s not down to me. That’s down to the referees and VAR.

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“And if they felt like it was a yellow card, then it was a yellow card.”

Slot was far more passionate in his response when asked how big a moment the decision was in the context of the game.

Although City would fall behind, they were able to play the remaining 20 minutes with their full compliment after Guehi escaped further punishment.

The Dutchman said: “That’s difficult to say, but I think it’s clear and obvious that you prefer to go at 0-0 to play against ten City players than against 11.

“So it was a big decision and as I said there are many decisions that have to be made in the game of football and sometimes there are 50-50 or 70-30 decisions.

“I think, but maybe I’m completely wrong, if 100 people have to judge this situation, I think 95 will tell it’s a red card and five players, people that work at the PGMOL or inside the panel would probably look at it to help the referee and say ‘No, you could also not give it and it’s not necessary for the VAR to intervene.’

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“If the referee gives a red card the VAR would never, ever overturn it and I even think that the VAR should have overturned this one.

“But yeah, I’m not even biased, it’s just my opinion because I say the same about the 3-1 incident and the penalty which is, yeah you can talk about it, the ball is already out of play, but there is a contact moment.

“So I don’t want to talk about these moments, the crucial moment for me is the one we just spoke about.”

A red card would have seen Guehi pick up a three-match ban at a crucial time for City.

Instead, he will be available for their upcoming league matches against Fulham, Newcastle United and Leeds United.

Meanwhile, the Premier League Match Centre explained the decision not to upgrade his yellow card.

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In a post on X, they said: “The referee’s call of a free-kick and yellow card to Guehi for the challenge on Salah was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the challenge outside of the area and deemed not to be denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity (DOGSO) as there was a covering defender.”

City’s win leaves them six points behind leaders Arsenal with 13 matches remaining, whilst Liverpool are sixth with just one win in their last seven Premier League outings.