Premier League offside rules as Man City goal could have huge impact on title race vs Liverpool

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City had been just seconds away from dropping two points to Premier League strugglers Wolves before John Stones headed in - with the being allowed to stand despite protests by the home team and the incident being reviewed by VAR .

Stones rose the highest to head home to give City the lead , with the Wolves bench furious and claiming that its goalkeeper Jose Sa's vision had been blocked by Bernardo Silva. Despite this, replays showed that the City star had moved out of the way as Stones made contact with the ball to header home - with fans arguing on social media on whether the goal should have stood.

A VAR check was called upon with referee Chris Kavanagh sent to the monitor to check whether Silva did infringe Sa. Usually, this incident leads to the referee amending his original decision but, unfortunately for Liverpool fans, this was not the case as he allowed the goal to stand.

Of course, Premier League officials make their decisions based on the official rule book, which is revised prior to each season. The official rule book states the following on the offside rule when it comes to interfering with an opponent: A player is penalised if they:

• Prevent opponent playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing line of vision.
• Challenge opponent for the ball
• Clearly attempt to play a ball which is close when this action impacts opponent
• Make obvious action which clearly impacts on ability of opponent to play ball

Immediately after the game, a statement from the Premier League Match Centre confirmed why the goal stood. It read: "Stones’ goal was disallowed on-field due to Bernardo Silva being in an offside position and in the goalkeeper’s line of vision.

"The VAR deemed Bernardo Silva wasn’t in the line of vision and had no impact on the goalkeeper and recommended an on-field review. The referee overturned his original decision and a goal was awarded."

Liverpool were just moments away from a perfect weekend in the Premier League, after Arsenal lost in a surprising result against Bournemouth before they went on to defeat Chelsea at Anfield. They'll now face Arsenal at the Emirates next weekend, in what could be a huge result in the title race with Liverpool already four points ahead of them heading into the game.

The Reds remain atop of the table, one point behind City after 11 games played.

Liverpool.com says: "While Wolves fans in the stadium, and millions of Liverpool fans watching at home, would have initially felt that City's goal should be ruled out... it feels extremely tough to argue against the fact that the referee's made the right decision.

"Before Stones makes contact with the ball, Silva is clearly aware that he's in an offside position and gets himself out of the way of Sa and is now directly involved in the play whatsoever. If we're being honest, Silva made a great heads up play to get himself away out of Sa's line of vision, with the rule book stating why the goal being given was the right one."