Mark Clattenburg left baffled by ‘strange’ refereeing decisions in Liverpool’s 2-1 win v Everton

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Liverpool carried on their perfect Premier League record with a 2-1 win over Everton on Saturday.

The Reds are sitting at the top of the table, with Crystal Palace the only other top-flight club not to have lost a game in the league yet.

Indeed, players such as Mohamed Salah could do with finding their best form again, but on the face of things, it’s going rather well for Liverpool in the 2025-26 season.

Although Liverpool came out on top in the Merseyside derby, there were some questionable decisions made by Darren England.

And, due to these decisions that were made, Mark Clattenburg has been left somewhat baffled.

Mark Clattenburg slams Darren England’s officiating in the game between Liverpool and Everton

Refereeing in the Premier League has been questionable for most of the 2025-26 season.

There have been times when blatantly obvious decisions have been called wrong, and others when referees have let players get away with almost everything.

However, during the Merseyside derby on Saturday, England’s refereeing performance was well below the standards of a Premier League game.

And, while speaking on the Beyond the Back Four Podcast, Clattenburg slammed England for the decisions he made.

“It’s interesting because we’ve seen different styles of refereeing,” Clattenburg said.

“We watched Stuart Atwell yesterday in the Arsenal and Manchester City game who I thought had a really good game.

“I thought Darren England in the Merseyside derby was, you know, some of the decision making was strange, it wasn’t in keeping with what we expect, certainly at Premier League level and I just felt, we can talk about Dewsbury-Hall in a second, but it was just the added on time.

“The way that Everton are chasing the game, it’s such a difficult fixture as I already know because I messed it up that many years ago, it’s not an easy fixture.”

Mark Clattenburg says the Merseyside derby is easier to referee at Liverpool than at Everton

The Merseyside derby is one of the most exciting fixtures in the Premier League.

Both clubs hate one another and, no matter which season it is or which team is playing better than the other, there’s bound to be fireworks.

The two teams often put on a rather impressive show, with both clubs getting their fair share of wins.

However, while speaking about past Merseyside derbies he’s refereed himself, Clattenburg said that it was easier for him when the game was played at Anfield rather than at Goodison Park.

“It’s certainly easier at Liverpool than it is at Everton, but I just felt that he didn’t handle the pressure and the occasion like a top, experienced referee like Anthony Taylor would have,” he added.

“I don’t know now [if it’s harder to referee the derby at Hill Dickinson than Anfield] with the new stadium, but certainly when it was at Goodison, the fans were on top of you; it was a different atmosphere.

“It was the same if you look at other derbies, I always felt it was harder at City than it was at United, it was harder in Tottenham than it was at Arsenal.

“It’s just the added-on pressure.”

At the moment, it’s clear that Liverpool are the better team than their Merseyside rivals, but as the season goes on, things could be turned on their heads and David Moyes’ men could end up being the ones on top.