Former Premier League ref Mark Halsey says Manchester City were robbed of a first-half penalty in defeat at Liverpool.

Writing for The Sun, Halsey stated: "Manchester City should have had a first-half penalty when Trent Alexander-Arnold handled inside the box.

"I felt the right-back had his right arm in an unnatural position, made himself bigger and deliberately moved it out to stop the ball going to Raheem Sterling.

"Therefore I disagree with the Premier League statement which claimed it did not meet the considerations for a deliberate handball.

"In the statement, there was no mention of Bernardo Silva's accidental handball in the build-up, so presumably the PGMOL were happy with the City winger's actions.

"Referee Michael Oliver may have been blocked by Sergio Aguero and you cannot guess so it went to VAR.

"On Saturday, the VAR official took almost four minutes to check an offside at Tottenham but this crucial decision, with the game goalless, was checked by Paul Tierney in just 46 seconds. That seemed super quick to me.

"I can understand Pep Guardiola's frustration at not getting a penalty and it was compounded by Liverpool scoring 22 seconds later. Mo Salah grabbed their second and there was debate over whether he was offside from Andrew Robertson's cross.

"You can only go off what the official broadcasters showed.

"Sky highlighted John Stones playing Salah onside and VAR checked it in 60 seconds and got the decision spot on."