The Premier League was last night under pressure to commission an independent investigation into Jon Moss’s handling of the dramatic climax to Liverpool’s Premier League draw with Tottenham Hotspur after his bosses failed to explain his potentially-illegal request for “TV” assistance.

Referee Moss avoided any action over an exchange with assistant Ed Smart and fourth official Martin Atkinson which was caught on microphone during Sunday’s explosive 2-2 draw at Anfield and in which he said: “Martin, have you got anything from TV?”

Moss had been discussing with Smart the first of two penalties awarded to Spurs and whether Dejan Lovren had played Harry Kane onside by attempting to clear the ball.

Match officials are forbidden from using television footage to check decisions other than when trials of Video Assistant Referees are taking place, with Sunday’s incident reminiscent of Zinedine Zidane’s sending-off in the 2006 World Cup final, which Fifa has always denied derived from replays being used to alert the referee to his headbutt on Marco Materazzi.

There was an identical response on Monday from Professional Game Match Officials Ltd, which described Moss’s comments as “misguided” but failed to explain them.