In the build-up, Liverpool midfielder Alexis Mac Allister was lying on the ground and clutching his head after being caught by team-mate Virgil van Dijk’s elbow.
It is common practice for referees to halt play due to safety measures whenever a player suffers a head injury.
However, Michael Oliver did not stop the game and Mbeumo was allowed to race through and score his third goal in Man Utd colours after joining from Brentford in the summer.
The decision to allow play to continue despite a clear head injury may have confused some Liverpool fans, but Sky Sports commentator Peter Drury cleared up why the goal stood.
Alexis Mac Allister required treatment for a head injury suffered in the build-up to Bryan Mbeumo’s goal
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Speaking during commentary, Drury explained: “The information we’re getting from the PGMOL is the referee didn’t see the injury so therefore the referee couldn’t stop the game.”
It is likely that had Oliver spotted Mac Allister on the floor then he would have blown his whistle, thus stopping play and the visitors will not have scored from that attack.
That said, Liverpool manager Arne Slot refused to blame his side’s defeat on that particular decision.
“I think the main thing we should do now, I should do now is not complain, blame or do these kind of things,” Slot told reporters in the post-match press conference.
“So the only thing, I was (thinking) at that moment of time, I think we could have done much better after Maca was on the floor, we should have done better.
“But the health care of a player is something that is important, and if a player needs to have four stitches, you would hope that everybody understands that he needs immediate treatment.
“But it didn’t happen, but again we could have done better so that’s not the reason why we lost this game today.”
