Why Jarrad Branthwaite goal might not have been allowed due to newly-introduced Premier League rule change

Jarrad Branthwaite's goal against Liverpool might have been disallowed had a Premier League rule been introduced this season.

Everton dealt Liverpool's Premier League title hopes a serious blow on Wednesday evening by beating Jurgen Klopp's side 2-0 at Goodison Park.

21-year-old defender Branthwaite was the unlikely scorer of Everton's first half opener, although the Toffees were perhaps fortunate that his strike was allowed to stand.

After a lengthy VAR check, it was ruled that Branthwaite was in line with Ibrahima Konate when the ball was played into the penalty area.

However, as highlighted by ESPN's Dale Johnson, only the green onside line was shown on the VAR graphic, not the red offside one.

That's because when the two lines overlap, only the defender's line is shown to make things clearer.

Johnson tweeted that "Branthwaite was within the tolerance level of the current offside technology. Next season with the introduction of semi-automated technology, which has no tolerance level, it may well be disallowed."

In Layman's terms, the current offside technology relies on video frames, and is not accurate enough to make such split-hair decisions that semi-automated technology can.

The Premier League is hoping to adopt semi-automated technology during autumn of next season.

Despite that, Everton were fully deserving of the three points.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin headed in his side's second goal of the night just shy of the hour mark, with Virgil van Dijk and his teammates bamboozled by Everton's corner blocking routine.

The home side withstood some late Liverpool pressure to earn a first Merseyside derby victory at Goodison Park since 2010 and claim the all-important bragging rights.

The win all-but mathematically assured Everton's place in the Premier League next season, with Sean Dyche's side now eight points clear of the relegation zone with just four matches left to play.

Liverpool remain second in the table, three points behind leaders Arsenal and one ahead of reigning champions Manchester City, who have two games in hand.

Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports

Topics: Everton, Liverpool, Premier League, VAR, Football, Jurgen Klopp

Alex Brotherton

Alex Brotherton is a Sports Trends Writer at SPORTbible. He has previously worked with publications including the Manchester Evening News, GOAL and BBC Sport. He is a football fanatic, but also dabbles in tennis and American football. He enjoys running, cooking and watching non-league football.

@alex_brotherton