SMART WORK, EDDIE WAS SPOT-ON TWICE

WELL done Eddie Smart. The assistant got involved in both penalty decisions and he was right to do so.

For the first penalty, he called for Jon Moss because he questioned whether Harry Kane was in an offside position and could not be clear if a Liverpool player had touched the ball before the Tottenham striker was fouled.

They discussed the decision and Moss had seen the touch from Dejan Lovren, which meant Kane was onside before being taken down by Loris Karius.

And then Smart persuaded the referee, deep into stoppage time, to award the second penalty to Spurs.

To the naked eye it looked as if Erik Lamela had dived. People who had seen it numerous times on TV replays could not be sure, but Smart was. And he was right.

It was unintentional from Virgil van Dijk but it was a swing of his leg and it was clumsy. And, yes, it was a penalty.

It topped a good afternoon for the officials. Moss was very good.

He allowed strong tackles and punished dangerous tackles. His officiating added to the occasion.

And he was right to book Dele Alli, who worries me, because we are in a World Cup year and he is getting booked for poor tackles and now this is the third time he has been shown a yellow card for simulation.

Indeed, Alli has been booked for diving three times since his Premier League debut in 2015 — no player has received more. v Manchester United, April 2016 v Huddersfield, September 2017 v Liverpool, February 2018

He is a very gifted footballer but he is not on top of his game and his actions suggest he could be a liability for England.