Kyle Walker praises ref’s ‘character’ for Anfield penalty no-call

Manchester City defender Kyle Walker praised referee Michael Oliver for not awarding Liverpool a late penalty at Anfield on Sunday. John Stones scored in the 23rd minute after Kevin de Bruyne delivered the one-bounce cross from the corner.

In the second half, the Reds equalized as Alexis Mac Allister scored through a penalty in the 50th minute. However, there was late drama in the match when Alexis Mac Allister was subjected to a 99th-minute chest-high challenge by Manchester City’s Jérémy Doku but Oliver decided not to offer a penalty to the Reds.

The on-field referee Michael Oliver was not sent to the pitchside monitor by VAR official Stuart Attwell and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp questioned what the latter had for lunch.

Walker feels Oliver could have crumbled to Anfield’s pressure but lauded his character.

“My view is the referee and the VAR made a decision on what it is,” he told Sky Sports on Monday. “I feel the ref reffed it really, really well.

“I feel once you have Anfield and the crowd behind him, he could have crumbled. But that shows his experience, that shows his character and that’s why he’s regarded probably as one of the best referees in this country and in the world at the minute.”

Meanwhile, the battle for the top position in the Premier League is getting hot with Arsenal and Liverpool ahead of Manchester City by only one point after 28 matches. Walker said no team has got any edge over the other and they have some tough games coming up.

“I don’t think no-one’s got the edge. We are where we are,” he said. “We’ve got tough games like the rest of them, we’ve all got tough games.

“I said to the lads in the dressing room [before playing Liverpool] that this game is not going to define our season — it’s a big step in the right direction towards out ultimate goal at the end of the season, but it won’t define our season.

“We know the Premier League, we’ve been in here many, many years, and we’ve seen a lot of twists and turns, ups and downs.

“So, there’s a lot of football to be played, as you say there’s 10 big important games to play and hopefully for Manchester City we go and do that big four-in-a-row that no-one has ever done.”

Manchester City will face table-toppers Arsenal on 31st March at Etihad Stadium and it will be a huge match in context to the Premier League title.