Arne Slot will remain on the touchline for Liverpool’s trip to Aston Villa despite his red card against Everton.
Not long after the Toffees scored a last-gasp equaliser in a fiery final Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park, Slot was dismissed for shouting at and angrily shaking referee Michael Oliver’s hand. The Dutchman is now facing the prospect of a two-match ban, having also served a suspension in December for accumulating three yellow cards.
However, he was on the touchline at Anfield for the 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday. And he will be on the sidelines once again as his side travel to Villa Park on Wednesday evening.
Before Liverpool’s victory over Wolves, the Premier League caused confusion by writing the Dutchman was “handed a two-match touchline ban as a result” within an article on the Merseyside Derby. Those words have since been removed from the article, having believed to have been published in error.
Slot is yet to be handed a suspension by the FA as they are still pondering on whether to give him and his assistant Sipke Hulshoff a punishment or not. Their decision will hinge on Oliver’s official refereeing report from the action at Goodison Park.
Until that is made, Slot can continue with his work as usual. The Dutchman and his assistant have until Wednesday to provide their respective responses after he and Hulshoff were both charged by the FA.
According to a statement from the FA, the Reds’ boss is accused of: “Acting in an improper manner and/or used insulting and/or abusive words and/or behaviour towards both the match referee and an assistant referee after the match had finished.”
Meanwhile, Hulshoff is also alleged to have: “Acted in an improper manner and/or used insulting and/or abusive words and/or behaviour towards a match official, which led to his dismissal, and after being sent off.”
Slot recently commented on what happened after the Merseyside Derby, admitting he needs to control his emotions when in the heat of battle. He said: “The way I was during the game, I wasn’t planning to react the way I reacted after the game.
“Again the seven or eight minutes extra time, if you just watch them back, so many incidents happened in those seven or eight minutes that, yeah, I got too emotional. Instead of going inside and calming down and then talking to the referee, I decided to walk out onto the pitch, which wasn’t the smartest thing to do in hindsight.
“We’re in a business that’s quite emotional. I’m the type of manager that likes to control as much as I can so if my player makes a wrong decision, I blame myself. But this is a part you can’t influence and then you get all emotional, like I did during the game.
“I wouldn’t say I was calm during the game, but especially in extra time, it was probably just a bit too much to stay calm. The best thing I could have done was just walk inside, but unfortunately I didn’t.”
Liverpool continue to command a seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, which they could extend to 10 with victory over Champions League-chasing Villa, albeit then having played a game more than second-placed Arsenal.
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