Pickford 'will NOT face retrospective ban' for challenge on Virgil van Dijk

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford is set to avoid a retrospective ban from the Football Association for his horror tackle on Virgil van Dijk in Saturday's Merseyside derby.

England No 1 Pickford has been widely condemned for the tackle which has all-but ruled Van Dijk out for the season after a scan at the weekend confirmed an ACL injury.

Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness described the goalkeeper's challenge, which brought no punishment from the referee, as 'assault' while Ryan Mason slammed the tackle as a potential 'career ender'.

But the Athletic report that Pickford will not face punishment from the FA for the altercation in the first six minutes of Saturday's derby.

It has been detailed that VAR reviewed the incident in question and determined that Liverpool were not awarded a penalty as Van Dijk was in an offside position.

VAR is also said to have concluded that Pickford's tackle did not meet the threshold for a red card.

FA policy for retrospective bans extends only for red card offences that are not contemporaneously seen by match officials, including the VAR, and in this case the tackle in question was checked over.

Van Dijk was taken to hospital for checks and Liverpool confirmed he will undergo surgery in what represents a devastating blow to their title defence.

A statement from Liverpool on Sunday revealed that 'no specific timescale' has been placed for Van Dijk's return to action - although the severity of the setback has all but ruled him out for the rest of the campaign.

He has been an ever-present in Klopp's side and his time on the sidelines has increased the need to bring in a defender in January.

Speaking after a frantic 2-2 draw, which saw Liverpool denied a last-minute Jordan Henderson winner by VAR, Klopp was left bemused at the tackle on Van Dijk.

'It is not good,' Klopp said before leaving Goodison Park. 'Virg plays with pain and he never misses a game.

'I do not know what it is but it does not look good.'

Liverpool took the extraordinary step of demanding the Premier League explain the two hugely contentious VAR decisions which cost them victory after being left so agitated with the decision-making on Saturday.

As well as the Pickford challenge, Henderson's disallowed winner proved highly-contentious.

Klopp said: 'I come in the dressing room and people stand there with a laptop. And we watch the situation back and we don't understand why this was offside.

'Since then I had 10 interviews and everyone tells me it was not offside and that doesn't lift my mood obviously.

'Look, I'm a real supporter of VAR but what you expect with offside is the right decision.'

Henderson even suggested skulduggery with the application of the lines, saying: ‘I think they bend the lines sometimes to make it offside. I’m not sure how they do it, I’ve seen it before.’

‘How’s that offside? Game’s gone mad,’ tweeted Cesc Fabregas. Ex-Manchester United keeper Edwin van der Sar posted: ‘This feels so not like football.

Former Spurs and England midfielder Jermaine Jenas added: ‘That offside just doesn’t feel right. There just seems to be so much human error in this decision-making. Where do you draw the line?’