In the midst of Liverpool’s connection, Arsenal’s decision to use video assistant referees (VAR) for their title match against Manchester City brings up old problems.

A VAR official with ties to Liverpool is said to be looking into old issues and has been hired by Arsenal and Manchester City.

Anthony Taylor has been chosen to be the referee for this weekend’s important Premier League title match between Arsenal and Manchester City. Fans will, however, be asking the same old questions from last year about why Jarred Gillett was chosen to be a VAR for the weekend.

Gillet was in charge of Arsenal’s game against Aston Villa. Kai Havertz’s last-second equalizer was called off for handball by the Australian. At the time, it was only the club’s second loss of the season. It was the first of a string of losses over the holidays, during which they lost points to Liverpool, West Ham, and Fulham. They would recover in 2024, having won all of their league games so far and being in first place going into the weekend’s games.

Arsenal thought more than just the Havertz “goal” in the last minute went against them. It looked like Gabriel Jesus was fouled by Douglas Luiz in the box, but Gillett didn’t think it was a bad enough foul to call a penalty.

When Arteta was asked about the two calls after the game, he said, “Pretty clear.” Simple and clear.

“That’s the point.” He said: “That’s my opinion, that’s all I can say.”

At the time, Arteta was sitting in the boxes because he had been sent off three times during the season for being near the field. This season, the Spaniard’s friendship with officials has been in the news more than once.

Now, fast forward to this coming weekend. Gillett’s hiring is sure to lead to more rumors about his ties to Liverpool. The Reds will want Arsenal and Man City to draw and lose points this weekend so they can move closer to winning the title. The claimed link goes back to 2019, when Fox Sports commentator Brenton Speed said that Gillett is said to be a Liverpool fan.

The man told Speed about this a few months ago and told him to keep it a secret because he wasn’t sure if he would get the meeting. Speed said this on the Fox Football Podcast. “That will be the last game he ever referees at Anfield because he had to sign a paper when he agreed to join the board of referees there.”

“And you have to write down the team you cheered for as a child or teen. He said Liverpool.” That means you can’t play in any of their games, at home or away.