Noni Madueke did not join in with the chorus of criticism aimed at Alexis Mac Allister after their clash at Anfield, saying the Liverpool star was ‘obviously clever’ during the incident.

Arsenal left Anfield with a 1-0 win thanks to a first-half Kai Havertz goal as they moved three points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

It was an entertaining contest, despite Liverpool not managing a shot on target, with a decent amount of edge to the game.

There was a flash point late in the match as Mac Allister appeared furious with a felled Martin Odegaard, shouting at the Norwegian and slapping him on the back of the head.

Jurrien Timber, in turn, was fuming with that response as he rushed to confront the Argentina international.

As the pair squared up, Madueke got involved and went head-to-head with Mac Allister, who then went down, claiming to have been headbutted.

He clearly had not been and neither the referee nor VAR were buying his theatrical attempt to get the Arsenal winger dismissed.

Jamie Carragher was extremely critical of Mac Allister for how he tried to engineer a red card for his opponent, but Madueke was more charitable, acknowledging that he was being baited, but it was ‘clever’ to do so.

‘To be honest, I don’t think it’s anything. Whether it’s a yellow or red card, the referee didn’t think that. VAR didn’t think that. So we all agreed there,’ Madueke told Viaplay.

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‘It’s a natural movement and he is obviously clever. He tried to bait me into getting a red card there.

‘In my head, I’ll be very honest with you guys, in my head I was thinking: “It’s possible, you know, with VAR”. It’s about whoever interprets it. I don’t know what they’re thinking. But thankfully it wasn’t.’

Liverpool legend Carragher went on a rant against players acting as Mac Allister did at Anfield, calling his reaction a ‘joke’ and calling for the sport to stamp it out.

‘I’m delighted he never got sent off there. We have got to be strong on calling people out and saying that this is embarrassing. I cant stand it,’ Carragher told Sky Sports.

‘I think everybody in the country watching football this head-to-head stuff. If someone puts their head back and butts, or course red card, but this stuff about head-to-head and if someone touches, the other one goes down and the payer gets sent off.

‘As a game, as football, people in the Premier League, supporters, call your own people out for it.

‘I’m a Liverpool fan, that’s a joke from Mac Allister but it’s got to stop. People are trying to gain an advantage because they know they can because red cards are getting given for it.

‘Whether it’s from Howard Webb, the Premier League, the managers get together. This has got to stop. Stop getting red cards for this crap!’