VAR was a headline act for all the wrong reasons once again and it could prove to have serious implications in the title race, which is well and truly back on after league leaders Arsenal dropped points again.
Elsewhere, one team who has not lost since the World Cup break continues to somewhat fly under the radar while a 10-second counter-attack highlighted why Liverpool could be about to finally turn a corner.
Review the weekend that was in the latest edition of Premier League Talking Points!
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VAR-CICAL SCENES PROVE COSTLY
The PGMOL publicly apologised to both Arsenal and Brighton after a shocking Saturday for officials on the field and in the VAR room.
Brentford’s equaliser at the Emirates did go through a lengthy VAR check for off-side and a potential foul by Ethan Pinnock. But in their haste to then restart the game, VAR did not check for off-side against Christian Norgaard before he squared for Ivan Toney to head in.
Brighton were also left aghast as Pervis Estupinan’s goal in a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace was wrongly ruled out by incorrect drawing of the off-side lines by the VAR official.
PGMOL admitted both were cases “human error” but they were far from the only baffling calls.
Chelsea were also on the wrong end of a horrendous miss from VAR after the Blues were omehow denied a late penalty in their 1-1 draw at West Ham when midfielder Tomas Soucek saved Conor Gallagher’s shot low to his left.
Speaking on BBC’s Match of the Day, Alan Shearer, Danny Murphy and Gary Lineker ripped into VAR.
“You couldn’t make this up, really … I don’t know what to say other than it has been a horrendous day for VAR” Shearer said.
Murphy replied: “I am getting to a point where I find it really difficult to comprehend how inefficient it is. It’s becoming tedious.”
Lineker added: “Deary, deary me. We’ve got another ricket.”
Liverpool finally break losing run | 02:26
13-SECOND COUNTER-ATTACK PROVES REDS ARE BACK?
It might be a tad early to officially declare Liverpool are back to their best.
But, in the Reds’ 2-0 win over a struggling Everton side, there were enough glimpses to prove that maybe, just maybe, this team might kick into gear for the second half of the season.
Under the tutelage of Jurgen Klopp, the Reds have become one of the best counterattacking teams in the Premier League, if not Europe.
However, that element of their game had started to slip in their historically bad campaign.
Star winger Mohamed Salah had lost form, injuries across the board had depleted the squad and it seemed a never-ending 2021/22 campaign had finally caught up to Klopp’s crop of Duracell bunnies.
Yet it took all of 13 seconds to remind the football world that Liverpool are still a force to be reckoned with.
That measly amount of time is all it took for Liverpool, who had just watched Everton defender James Tarkowski’s header smack the post, to go from one end to the other, finished off with a tidy Salah finish.
It was, as The Times’ Henry Winter wrote, “Klopp’s philosophy in motion.”
“This was what Liverpool fans craved, their team playing with all their old swagger again, scything opposing midfields and defences open,” Winter said.
“This was Klopp’s philosophy in motion. Liverpool’s neighbours could only complain about the heavy metal.
“Everton were torn apart.”
The second goal wasn’t quite as fast, but once it got going, it was as fast as lightning and culminated in January recruit Cody Gakpo scoring his first Liverpool goal.
With Virgil van Dijk, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino all on the bench and nearing full fitness, this Merseyside Derby could be seen as the turning point of their season.
GUNNERS FEELING THE HEAT?
Despite the injustice surrounding the circumstances of Brentford’s goal, there will be concerns for Mikel Arteta that Arsenal are beginning to falter just ahead of a showdown with City on Wednesday.
The Gunners still have a game in hand on the defending champions to go with a three-point lead, but City will go top on goal difference should they win at the Emirates.
Leandro Trossard’s first Arsenal goal to open the scoring on Saturday showed exactly why Arteta was keen to bolster his attacking options in the January transfer window.
But the presence of Gabriel Jesus is starting to be missed up front and there remains a huge creative burden on Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
After dropping just seven points in their first 19 league games of the season, Arsenal have let five slip away in two weeks against Everton and Brentford.
THE SURPRISE SIDE AT THE TOP OF THE FORM LADDER
Since the Premier League has resumed after the World Cup, only two teams have been undefeated.
One of those teams is Newcastle United who, in fact, have not lost in the league since September last year.
The other? Brentford.
Thomas Frank’s side have five wins and five draws to their name since the Premier League’s return.
Critics may point to the fact the Bees have faced four of the bottom five in that time, drawing just once in that span of games in a scoreless result against Leeds on January 23.
But Brentford have also drawn against Spurs and league-leaders Arsenal as well as a 3-1 triumph over Liverpool which, despite the Reds’ well-documented struggles this season, is no small feat.
Star striker Ivan Toney, who had scored 10 goals before the break, has added four in the 10 games since, including one in the draw against Arsenal on the weekend.
But against the Gunners, it was his all-round game that made him such a menace for Arsenal’s backline to deal with.
According to Opta, Toney won 12 of his 13 aerial duels, with many of them coming against Arsenal’s William Saliba, who has a strong height advantage over the Englishman.
Toney’s movement in open play and off set pieces also caused Saliba all sorts of headaches throughout.
It was a performance that epitomised the three-word message Frank told his troops before the game: “Be cool, brave and aggressive.”
With a potential European adventure next season on the cards, it is a mentality Brentford must continue to employ onwards.
SAINTS PULL TRIGGER IN DESPERATE BID TO SURVIVE
That result proved to be the final straw for the Saints board as they sacked a manager for the second time this season.
Nathan Jones won just one of his eight league games in charge during a turbulent three months at St. Mary’s.
The outspoken Welshman had long since lost the faith of the Southampton support, with many fans questioning why it took the owners this long to realise the error of their ways.
Southampton are rooted to the foot of the table, four points adrift of safety.
The number of sides Southampton can realistically hope to catch in the battle to beat the drop is quickly dwindling.