Liverpool were left to rue a lack of creativity against Arsenal on Sunday after failing to record a single shot on target.

The Reds could certainly have done more to make the Gunners suffer in their own box having put them under pressure throughout much of the game, but for all of their shortcomings, they will still point to a refereeing decision as being the key turning point in the match.

Liverpool were cheated out of a penalty

Although he was frustrated by his team’s lack of impetus in the final third on Sunday, Andoni Iraola will also feel that Liverpool deserved something from the match.

In the face of a sturdy Arsenal defence, the Reds just needed a little bit of luck, and it should have arrived when Timber made the decision to pull Isak back. As Schmeichel told Viaplay after the game, it was baffling that VAR did not choose to overturn referee Andy Madley’s call.

“Why do we have to talk about it? Why don’t they see it? We see it in real time, like 70 yards away,” fumed the former goalkeeper.

Coming from a man as steeped in anti-Liverpool sentiment as a storied former United player of eight years, that is about as strong as it gets.

Standing alongside him on the Anfield touchline, former Arsenal hero Freddie Ljunberg also agreed, admitting that his old team had gotten away with a big one.

“That one is clear, they missed that the refereeing team,” Ljungberg said. “I thought sometimes the ref made very strange decisions. I thought he was quite poor in his refereeing. But that, with VAR, that can’t be missed. It’s a blatant penalty.”