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Virgil van Dijk disagrees with Premier League statement as Liverpool captain slams decision Virgil van Dijk speaks on Liverpool’s disallowed goal and more after a 3-0 defeat at Manchester City on Sunday
Virgil van Dijk disagrees with Premier League statement as Liverpool captain slams decision
Virgil van Dijk speaks on Liverpool’s disallowed goal and more after a 3-0 defeat at Manchester City on Sunday
was critical of the decision to disallow his goal(Image: Paul Currie/Shutterstock)
Virgil van Dijk believes Liverpool were denied a legitimate goal at Manchester City as the reigning Premier League champions slipped to eighth in the table after a 3-0 defeat at the Etihad on Sunday. The Reds captain thought he had equalised after Erling Haaland had headed home the opening goal.
But the skipper’s leveller was chalked off with Andy Robertson judged to have been in an offside position and interfering with goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma’s attempts to make the save.
The goal was disallowed, according to Premier League’s official Match Centre account, because Robertson was “deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper”.
disagrees with that assessment while he accepts Pep Guardiola’s City were deserved winners on the day, the Reds’ centre-back says the decision changed the course of the game.
“I don’t know who was on the VAR, Michael Oliver? I think therefore, the officials at the stadium and the couple behind the screen have to make the right decisions for the game,” Van Dijk said.
“Today it was decided the goal wouldn’t stand because Andy Robertson was, for any reason, hindering Donnarumma but I think the goal should have stood, that is all I will say. But I am not the one who is making the decisions.
explanation] was just hindering the goalkeeper or something like that? But someone showed me a clip that Man City scored last year against Wolves and the referee was [Chris Kavanagh] back then as well.
“I don’t know, I’ve already said too much because the thing is, the decision has been made, we lost 3-0 and we don’t make excuses in that sense. We lost 3-0, we have to take it on the chin and move on. How tough it is is obviously a hit but we have to keep going.”
Van Dijk now heads off for Netherlands duty with the Reds eight points behind league leaders Arsenal and while international action affords the Liverpool squad the chance to move on from a chastening afternoon at the Etihad, there are lessons to be learned from a fifth defeat of the term, according to the club captain.
added: “You don’t forget about results like this. If you forget about these things then you don’t get better. You cannot only think about the good things all the time.
“You have to think about what went wrong today and how we can improve it. You have to feel that responsibility, I definitely do. What could we have done better? And you take that into the next games.
“I don’t think there is any reason to get carried away, we faced some difficult opponents this week and we got two wins from three and we have to just keep going. It’s a difficult season so far for many reasons but I am confident we can turn this around.
“It doesn’t happen overnight, we have to keep working and we need everyone to be fit to keep helping us, so that is the key for all of us in the dressing room.
“There’s no point looking at the table for us, that is it. I don’t think there is any point for us. If you lose as many games as we have lost, I don’t think we can look at the table at this point but I have been in the game quite a long time [to know] that seasons aren’t decided in November or December.
“It’s when it comes to March time, you know, April, when it starts to become very interesting how it all shapes up up there. We want to be there but there’s a long way to go and a lot of hard work to be put in.
“So we have to stay humble and we have to keep working and that is the only aim and the only thing we should focus on.
“[Recent results] is why it feels maybe a bit more disappointing at this point because you work so hard on those two games as a whole, as a team to get the clean sheet and the goals that we scored.
“At the end of the day, games – and especially these games – are decided by small margins. I think you can see there was some brilliance today, with the third goal especially from Doku, who is in the shape of his life, but the second goal was a little deflection which was unlucky and that is the reality.
everyone is going to their respective countries and they have to perform because there are still some big games left and many players still want to qualify for the World Cup and then when we come back, we have a big run of games where we need everyone in their best shape.
“And that is the opportunity that we are looking forward to as a team to show to our fans and ourselves what we have been doing in the last two games (before City). We want to find the consistency in order to be successful this season.”
FA Cup third round LIVE! Match updates, score, match report as Premier League teams enter the competition
Sunday 11 January 2026 14:27, UK
FA Cup third round LIVE!
First Half: Portsmouth 1-2 Arsenal – Gunners score twice from two set pieces! View post
2.30pm: West Ham vs QPR | Sheff Utd vs Mansfield | Hull vs Blackburn | Norwich vs Walsall | Swansea vs West Brom
4.30pm: Man Utd vs Brighton | FT: Derby 1-3 Leeds
GOAL! Portsmouth 1-2 Arsenal (Martinelli, 25)
Arsenal’s set piece strength comes to the fore again!
It’s far too easy for the Gunners from a Portsmouth perspective.
Martinelli rises highest at the near post to flick Madueke’s corner into the back of the net.
FA Cup third round LIVE! Match updates, score, match report as Premier League teams enter the competition
Sunday 11 January 2026 14:10, UK
GOAL! Portsmouth 1-1 Arsenal (Dozzell OG, 8)
Arsenal get an instant response and of course, it is a set piece!
Eze’s corner is flicked on at the near post and there’s a scramble in the box.
Noorgard is there to disrupt as the ball crosses the line.
it’s not clear who got the decisive touch but the goal is given as a Dozzell own goal.
Game on!
FA Cup third round LIVE!
First Half: Portsmouth 1-1 Arsenal – Own-goal cancels out Pompey’s early opener View post
FT: Derby 1-3 Leeds – Leeds complete second-half turnaround View post
2.30pm: West Ham vs QPR | Sheff Utd vs Mansfield | Hull vs Blackburn | Norwich vs Walsall | Swansea vs West Brom
4.30pm: Man Utd vs Brighton
Preview: Portsmouth v Arsenal
Our quest to add to our record 14 FA Cup triumphs begins at Portsmouth’s Fratton Park on Sunday (2pm UK), as our fight for silverware moves onto a fourth front.
We start the first of four successive away games, all in different competitions, by heading to the home of the Championship side for the first time in six years. Back then, we advanced into the quarter-finals of the competition, en route to lifting the trophy in the early months of Mikel Arteta’s reign.
He’ll hope that history repeats itself in more ways than one, and the omens are good as we haven’t lost to Portsmouth in our last 22 meetings, a run that incredibly stretches back 67 years to 1958.
Welcome cup distraction

In their second season back in the second tier, Pompey are once again scrapping to maintain that status. Last term saw them finish 16th, five points above the relegation zone, but things are more precarious this time around, as they sit 21st, one point above the drop zone, albeit with games in hand.
Manager John Mousinho was handed his first managerial role by the club just over three years ago, and has rewarded that faith by leading them to the League One title in his first full season in charge. But after a promising start to this campaign that brought a single defeat in their opening five Championship games, the south-coast club have slowly slipped down the table.
They come into this cup tie with one win in their last four, albeit that came in their last home game – a 2-1 success over Charlton Athletic thanks to a 98th-minute winner. 2026 began with a chastening 5-0 loss at Bristol City, before last weekend’s game against Ipswich Town was postponed due to a frozen pitch, leaving them without a fixture for 11 days.
What the managers say

Arteta: “We want [more trophies] for sure, that’s what we are chasing. That’s the purpose of this team.
“At the end, I think we have to get judged, and we get judged for what we do today. Last week is not important and we will get judged for what we are able to do at the end of the season. One thing is the trophies for our football club and the many other things that you have to do in a football club, especially in the situation we are in.”

Mousinho: “The fact that we have a free week building up to the game and a free week after it means we’re not worried about fixture congestion. The fact that we’ve drawn Arsenal at home means it’s a massive opportunity for us to go and enjoy the day and put on a decent enough performance and enjoy the FA Cup.
“There are some very good sides in the Championship, but it just so happens that this weekend we’re playing one of the best sides in the world. It’s an exciting proposition, a bit of a daunting one as well, but we just have to prepare as we normally would.”
Team news

Piero Hincapie came off during the 0-0 draw against Liverpool on Thursday and is a doubt, while Arteta suggested before that match that Riccardo Calafiori and Cristhian Mosquera are still a little bit away from returning from their injuries.
Max Dowman is nursing a hamstring issue, while Kai Havertz could be an option as he continues to work his way back from the knee injury he sustained on the opening day.
Portsmouth have a packed treatment room at present, which got fuller this week when midfielder Mark Kosznovszky was ruled out long-term with a serious ACL injury, while centre-backs Hayden Matthews (ankle) and Josh Knight (back) have missed recent matches and will do so again here.
Forwards Callum Lang and Josh Murphy are a few weeks away from returning from their hamstring injuries, so Mousinho will be hoping that captain Marlon Pack and striker Colby Bishop will recover from their issues to feature, especially after Minhyeok Yang was recalled by Tottenham Hotspur earlier this week.
Talking tactics

Adrian Clarke: Mousinho likes to use a 4-2-3-1 that focuses hard on releasing his wingers down the sides, but he also occasionally plays a back five. Their young head coach may wish to opt for safety in numbers – but his side are certainly more comfortable in their preferred set-up.
In possession, they have a balanced approach, play through the thirds, and they love to get the ball to their wingers, who tend to put plenty of crosses into the box. But Mousinho’s men will also go direct at times – no Championship side averages more long passes (69 per 90 minutes) than Portsmouth.
Scoring goals has been an issue, netting just 21 times in league games – the second-lowest tally – while their top scorer is central attacking midfielder Adrian Segecic [above] who has four of them. They have also had issues defending crosses which has led to them conceding 14 set-piece goals: the second most at Championship level, while eight of the 35 goals they have let in have been headers.
Backed by vociferous support at Fratton Park, Pompey will try to upset our rhythm with fierce closing down and a well-organised shape. Known for displaying fight on home turf, they have beaten three of the Championship’s top five on their own patch this season, and as shown by the fact they’ve yet to concede more than twice in a home match too, they can be a tough nut to crack.
Facts and stats

Portsmouth are winless in their last 22 games against us in all competitions (D8 L14), dating back to a 5-4 win in March 1958. Only against Chelsea (31 between 1962 and 2012) have they ever had a longer winless run.
We have progressed from all four of our FA Cup ties against Pompey, in 1931/32, 1970/71, 2003/04 and 2019/20. We’ve only faced Brighton and Leyton Orient in more ties with a 100% success rate (5/5).
Portsmouth have lost their last three FA Cup third-round ties and their last five FA Cup ties against Premier League opposition since beating Tottenham Hotspur in the 2009/10 semi-final.
We have been eliminated from the FA Cup third round in each of the last two seasons, albeit against top-flight opposition in Liverpool and Man Utd. We haven’t gone out at this stage in more consecutive campaigns since a run of four between 1938/39 and 1947/48.
Read more
Storey’s pair of penalties pip Portsmouth in 1971
Match officials

Tony Harrington has been handed just his second Gunners game, and we won the previous two. We beat Southampton 3-1 last season, while he was also the man in the middle for last month’s 2-0 success over Brentford. He has refereed 14 games in all competitions this term, averaging 3.1 yellow cards a game, and he has sent off two players and awarded two penalties.
If the scores are level after 90 minutes, 30 minutes of extra time will follow before a penalty shootout if required. VAR will not be in operation at this stage of the competition.
Referee: Tony Harrington
Assistants: Steven Meredith & Sian Massey-Ellis
Fourth official: Leigh Doughty
Previous trips to Pompey
This will be our first trip to Fratton Park since 2020 – the season in which we last won the FA Cup. That encounter was at the fifth-round stage, and a youthful side progressed thanks to goals from Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Eddie Nketiah.
You have to go back to December 2009 for the previous league encounter when we ventured down to the south coast for a Premier League clash, and were 4-1 victors with Eduardo, Samir Nasri, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Song all finding the net. Seven months earlier, we also recorded a three-goal winning margin when a double from Nicklas Bendtner and a Carlos Vela effort secured three points.
Tune into Arsenal.com and the official app just before kick-off to get live commentary of the game, with Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke talking you through all the on-field action.
You can also find out which broadcaster is showing the action live wherever you are in the world.
Read more
Ho w to watch Portsmouth v Arsenal live on TV
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