Liverpool should only be blaming itself after crashing out of the Premier League title race in the worst possible manner, with a loss to Everton at Goodison Park. In truth, the host deserved to win, simply looking more ready for the fixture.

Perhaps that's got something to do with Liverpool's physically and emotionally draining season, which since January has been billed as a grand send-off for manager Jürgen Klopp. Whatever the reason, this team has looked spent for weeks, and Sean Dyche made sure Everton punished that.

But there were fine margins at play too. Once again, Liverpool will rue some poor finishing, with Darwin Núñez, Luis Díaz and Mohamed Salah all missing good chances.

Meanwhile, Liverpool got one early let-off at the other end, when an offside call meant a penalty against Alisson was cancelled. But there was nearly a second reprieve for the Jarrad Branthwaite opener, as VAR went back to check a possible offside in the build-up.

Gary Neville predicted there could be a 'riot' at Goodison Park if this one was also ruled out. But the predominant emotion in the stands was joy rather than outrage, as the goal stood.

When the graphic was shown on-screen, a single green line was shown, in line with Branthwaite and final Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konaté. A single line being drawn means that the offside is extremely tight, and falls within what is known as the 'tolerance level' of the current technology available for offside calls.

In other words, Branthwaite may well have been offside, but it was too tight for technology currently in use to know for sure. And from next season, we will know more quickly and with more accuracy, with the Premier League set to introduce semi-automated offside technology.

The Premier League has been under increasing pressure to introduce the technology. Under this system, there will be no tolerance level, meaning that even if Branthwaite was beyond Konaté by the finest of margins, the goal would be chalked off.

Liverpool.com says: It's just one more thing to be frustrated about. Perhaps if Liverpool had got a second let-off, the game might have gone differently.

But in truth, that's hard to imagine. Liverpool looked rattled from the outset, the finishing has been a recurring problem, and clean sheets have been a rare commodity lately. If it wasn't the Branthwaite goal, the breakthrough would have come from somewhere else, such was the nature of the match.

Still, more accuracy from next season in the Premier League will theoretically be good, especially with those decisions being made more quickly. Delays have been a huge problem since the introduction of video technology.