With 10 games left to play, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal are separated by a single point at the top of the Premier League table. It's little wonder, therefore, that the smallest of moments are being afforded the greatest of scrutiny.

After all, most of this Liverpool side still remembers losing out to Manchester City by a matter of millimeters after a John Stones clearance. Arsenal has no recent experience of coming quite so close, but it's clear that whoever wins the title will have relied upon fine margins.

Unfortunately, that piles even more pressure on the referees and VAR officials. Nobody wants the division to be decided by an officiating call, but it seems clear that mistakes will form a key part of the eventual narrative.

READ MORE: Liverpool transfer news as Real Madrid raid 'plotted' and Joshua Kimmich outlines stance on move

READ MORE: 'Will never' - Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold clear on England stance after Arsenal ace snub

From a Liverpool perspective, the Luis Díaz farce against Spurs or the Martin Ødegaard handball spring to mind. Both of these were acknowledged as errors, but that didn't bring any points back — the point Jürgen Klopp was making when he brought up the theoretical possibility of a replay.

That latter incident came in a head-to-head meeting with a title challenger, Arsenal, adding even more importance to the error. And Liverpool fans have filed away the failure to award a late penalty against Manchester City in the same category, after Jérémy Doku planted his boot in the chest of Alexis Mac Allister.

But the Key Match Incidents Panel (just about) disagrees. Having considered it, the five-man group has concluded by a 3-2 majority that Michael Oliver's on-field decision not to award a penalty was correct.

Per The Times, the verdict was as follows: "A genuine attempt to play the ball... with both players coming into contact with each other as a result. Doku is just about entitled to challenge for the ball and, despite making contact with Mac Allister’s chest, he makes contact with the ball."

The dissenting opinion will make far more sense to Liverpool fans. “Two panelists felt that the on-field decision was incorrect and a penalty should have been awarded as ‘Mac Allister gets there first. Doku’s foot is high and makes clear contact with his studs on Mac Allister’s chest."

There was no such split over an incident in Arsenal's narrow 2-1 win over Brentford. The panel unanimously found that Kai Havertz, scorer of the eventual winner, should previously have been shown a second yellow card for diving.

VAR is powerless to intervene when it comes to second bookable offenses. Ironically, however, if the on-field referee had awarded a penalty, then VAR would have been 'activated', allowing a recommendation of a second yellow for simulation.

As it was, though, Havertz remained on the pitch to make a decisive impact. A lucky escape for Arsenal, and one that could yet prove vital as the Premier League title race remains historically tight.

Liverpool.com says: The various thresholds for intervention underline how the game has got itself into a right mess. Certain wrong decisions are corrected, others are not, and there's a vast gray area of interpretation and subjectivity that means consistency is worse than ever.

Meanwhile, it's baffling how the Key Match Incidents Panel sided with Oliver, even by a majority. The verdict will do nothing to stop Liverpool's complaints if Manchester City end up edging the title by a point. As for Arsenal, it's clearly benefited from a huge slice of luck, and not for the first time after the Ødegaard handball.