Official Liverpool decision made after Arsenal outrage and Everton U-turn

Chris Kavanagh has been appointed the referee for Liverpool's Carabao Cup final against Chelsea.

The Ashton-under-Lyne-born official will be the man in the middle at Wembley on Sunday 25 February - although he's been centre of controversy with the Reds this season.

Kavanagh has taken charge of four Liverpool games this season - a 3-1 win over West Ham, a 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest, a 1-1 draw against Manchester City and a 1-1 stalemate with Arsenal.

It was against Premier League title rivals Arsenal in December that Kavanagh was at the centre of a controversial moment. The ball hit Arsenal captain December in Martin Odegaard's outstretched arm inside the box as Mo Salah looked to go past him - but Kavanagh did not award a penalty to Liverpool. VAR checked the incident but it was not regarded as a clear and obvious error.

However, referees' chief Howard Webb subsequently admitted that the Reds should have been given a spot-kick. He said: "The referee on the field recognised that Odegaard had slipped and saw his arm go to ground, we've talked in the past about supporting arms if somebody breaks their fall with the arm it's very natural, and that's a pretty well established concept.

"In this situation, though there's an important difference to a normal player that's fallen, it's not just Odegaard accidentally falling onto the ball. He does slip, the arm does go out, but he actually pulls his arm back in towards his body which is when the ball makes contact with the arm.

"The VAR looked at it and thought it was a case of Odegaard trying to make himself smaller by bringing the arm back towards the body. That's the element that's important here - whether it's instinctive or deliberate he gets a huge advantage by bringing the arm back towards the ball, and the feedback we got back was very clear; the game expects a penalty, in this situation. I would agree, and as such I think this was one that didn't reach the right outcome."

Kavanagh was also at the centre of controversy when he showed Dominic Calvert-Lewin a red card in Everton's 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup third round at Selhurst Park. Kavanagh initially did not send off the Toffees striker for a tackle of Nathaniel Clyne but overturned his decision after being instructed to review the incident on the pitch-side monitor by VAR. However, Everton appealed the decision and it was successfully overturned.