Christian Benteke’s winning goal for Liverpool against Bourne-mouth on Monday should have been ruled out, the English Premier League said in a rare comment on refereeing decisions yesterday.

An announcement on the League’s website said all 20 clubs had received clarification this week about the amendment to the offside rule, which meant that the Liverpool goal should not have counted.

Benteke’s goal was allowed to stand even though his team-mate Philippe Coutinho, standing in an offside position, attempted to play the ball, distracting the visiting goalkeeper in the process.

The ball ran to Benteke, who scored, but critics said his goal should have been disallowed under recent changes to the interpretation of the offside rule which say that a player does not have to touch the ball to be judged to be interfering with play.

Newly promoted Bournemouth felt particularly hard done by in the 1-0 defeat at Anfield as they also had a goal controversially disallowed.