Peter Walton disagrees with Ian Wright on 'nightmare' that denied Cody Gakpo Liverpool goal

Former Premier League referee Peter Walton believes Anthony Taylor was right to deny Cody Gakpo the chance to score during Liverpool's 2-2 draw with West Ham United on Saturday afternoon.

Taylor controversially blew his whistle during the latter stages of the match as West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola prepared to play out from the back, throwing the ball to the ground as he readied himself.

It was at this point Gakpo raced forward to win possession of the ball, presenting himself with an opportunity to fire into an empty net. Before the Dutchman had the opportunity to do so, however, Taylor paused play and called for West Ham medical staff to assess Areola.

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There remains confusion as to why Taylor signalled for the game to stop despite Areola not requesting treatment, denying Gakpo the chance to put the Reds 3-2 ahead. Ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright said the referee "had an absolute nightmare" in the way he reacted to the incident, though Walton has jumped to the defence of Taylor and is of the view he handled the situation correctly.

“Taylor was right to stop Gakpo," he told the Times. "He used his common sense. Referees are always criticised for failing to apply common sense in their decision-making. So it makes me smile now when some people claim that Anthony Taylor should not have intervened when the West Ham goalkeeper, Alphonse Areola, tossed the ball forwards to indicate he was in pain after a collision with a post.

"Taylor had initially told Areola to get on with the game, and after the ball was thrown, Cody Gakpo thought he had the chance to score a relatively easy goal. Areola was naive, and lucky that Taylor did blow his whistle, but let’s be clear: it would have been a far bigger issue, and this column would be a lot longer, if Gakpo had been allowed to score. Did Taylor blow because he wanted to prevent that sort of goal being scored? Yes, he did and he should not be embarrassed to admit that. He showed common sense.”

Siding with Wright, and not Walton, Alan Shearer was also critical of Shearer and said: "It’s a mess. The ref has made the error of not blowing. When the goalkeeper has collided with the post, that’s when he should have stopped the play and blown the whistle.

"He hasn’t blown the whistle which is an error. The referee calls the doctors and the physios on! They’re not even ready, they don’t even think he’s injured. He’s not injured, he’s [Taylor] has tried to rectify the mistake that he’s made. It was a very messy situation caused by the referee."