Friday night's opening game of week three saw Ipswich Town take on Liverpool, and the match wasn't without incident under the lights at Portman Road.

Liverpool had every right to complain

Darren England was the man in the middle, but despite looking directly at an incident involving Cody Gakpo, the official waved play on.

"Referee England was in a terrific position but appeared to miss a late deliberate trip by Abdul Fatawa on Cody Gakpo," Hackett noted at the time. "It was a clear foul, and I am not in any doubt a penalty kick should have been awarded.

"You have to ask what VAR Nicholas Hopton was looking at to not send the official to the screen. It was a clear and obvious error, and Liverpool had every right to complain."

Coming just a week after the issues at Anfield with the substitutes board and subsequent delay, Andoni Iraola must be wondering what else might go against his team this season, though his side were lucky not to have been down to 10 men in the second half.

"Poor defending by Liverpool's Jeremy Jacquet gave Emerson possession of the ball, before Jacquet fouled the Ipswich man, and was correctly yellow-carded by the referee," Hackett continued.

"Jacquet really should've received a second yellow card followed by a red after his reckless challenge, however."

Controversy in Nottingham

At the City Ground, Tottenham were looking for their first points and first goals of the season against Nottingham Forest, and in that match, too, there was huge controversy.

Forest appeared to have gone in front when Sandro Tonali and Jan Paul van Hecke made a mess of a clearance, which hit Neco Williams before going in. It looked to be a perfectly legitimate goal, which referee Craig Pawson had given, before VAR intervened for a potential handball offence, and the goal was ruled out.

"I totally disagreed with this decision, and the match officials got it badly wrong," Hackett added.

"I have looked at several replays, and there is absolutely no definitive evidence to rule this goal out. VAR, Peter Bankes, should not have intervened."

VAR is the star at Craven Cottage

Both Michael Oliver in the Hull City vs Aston Villa game and Paul Tierney in the Man City vs Coventry match had little to concern themselves with over their respective 90+ minutes, with the officials and their teams in sync throughout play.

Robert Jones produced a flurry of correct yellow cards in the Newcastle vs Bournemouth game, which also included a Marcus Tavernier goal that the Magpies were unhappy about, but VAR Matt Donohue awarded after a check.

Samuel Barrott was in charge of an exciting match at Craven Cottage, as Crystal Palace ran out 3-2 winners, thanks to Ben Chilwell's late goal.

"Yeremy Pino produced one of the best crosses you are likely to see all season with the outside of his right boot, which found Daichi Kamada unmarked in the penalty area," Hackett said. 

"A side-foot finish past Bernd Leno, fantastic, though a few of Kamada's toes were offside and Palace's equaliser was correctly ruled out. A great spot by VAR, John Brooks."

Much of the rest of that match passed without incident, until late on. 

"Fulham called for a penalty when they felt that the ball hit a Palace hand as Gonzalo Garcia looked to flick the ball. The referee wasn't interested, and neither was VAR. Correct decision."

Up and down performance from John Brooks

Brighton vs Leeds also had relatively few incidents for the official, Stuart Attwell, and his team to be concerned by, though the Brentford vs Sunderland game saw an issue when Dan Ballard thought he'd given the visitors the lead.

"Ballard turned and shot from about 15 yards, and referee Thomas Bramall awarded the goal, but Timothy Wood in the VAR control room then took over four minutes to review the decision, which is unacceptable," Hackett said. "The goal was, however, correctly chalked off."

Thierno Barry was lucky not to have been carded in an exciting Everton vs Man Utd game, after referee John Brooks waved away his appeals for a foul.

"Replays showed the Everton player going to ground far too easily, and John Brooks got this decision spot on," Hackett agreed. 

"Barry was lucky that he didn't receive a yellow card for his clear act of simulation, though Brooks blotted his copybook when not issuing a booking for unsporting behaviour to Dalot, who pulled his opponent's shirt, stopping a promising attack."

Fantastic performance from Chris Kavanagh in North London

The final game of the weekend saw reigning champions Arsenal host Chelsea in what was always going to be a hotly contested London derby.

An early goal for the Blues thanks to Morgan Rogers silenced the Emirates Stadium, with the visitors then incensed that Gabriel wasn’t sent off for a challenge on Emi Martinez.

“There was then a scramble in the penalty area, and Martinez had possession of the ball whilst lying on the floor. Gabriel was also on the ground when his left boot came into contact with Martinez’s head. Referee Chris Kavanagh didn’t have a clear view of this incident, and I am satisfied that the VAR, Darren England, didn’t intervene because there was no malice in Gabriel’s actions,” Hackett concluded.

“Things got spicy in the second half when England colleagues Rogers and Declan Rice squared up to each other. Rogers was shown the yellow card, but I really do think that Rice should also have been sanctioned. That said, Kavanagh and his team of officials delivered a top-class performance, full of control, consistency and a great deal of common sense."