Anfield legend Jamie Carragher suggested VAR missed a separate penalty shout from Fulham in the early exchanges of Liverpool’s encounter at Craven Cottage.
The Reds were presented with the perfect opportunity to go 14 points clear at the top of the Premier League table after Arsenal was held to a 1-1 draw with Everton on Saturday. Liverpool is now in pole position to claim the title but had to survive an early scare against Fulham.
Ibrahima Konate was sloppily caught in possession by Andreas Pereira and the Fulham midfielder found Rodrigo Muniz in the area, only for Virgil van Dijk to come to his side’s rescue.
Fulham appealed for a penalty but the referee waved play on before VAR reviewed the incident. It was deemed that there was not enough in Van Dijk’s challenge to award the home side the penalty.
However Pereira continued his protestations as replays showed he was felled by the onrushing Caoimhin Kelleher after setting up his teammate. And Carragher believes VAR failed to spot the separate incident, instead only reviewing Van Dijk’s challenge.
Speaking on Sky Sports, the ex-Reds defender said: “Liverpool gets itself in a mess. But if you look at the collision between Pereira and Kelleher, the goalkeeper wipes him out.
“Pereira gets the pass away but Kelleher comes flying across. I don’t think there is a lot VVD can do and that is what VAR was looking at. But I think VAR has missed something there with Kelleher and Pereira. He doesn’t win the ball and takes the man.”
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However, the Premier League issued a statement to confirm that the incident was reviewed by the match officials. A statement on social media read: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Fulham following a challenge by Kelleher on Pereira was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed a coming together and not a reckless action. The VAR also checked and cleared the incident between van Dijk and Muniz.”
Liverpool soon asserted its authority on the game as Alexis Mac Allister collected the ball from deep before unleashing a stunning long-range effort past Bernd Leno. Three points would edge Liverpool even closer to the title and Roy Keane suggested the Reds deserve more respect for their performances this season.
