Jamie Carragher believes Liverpool were fortunate not to have a penalty given against them early on in their clash with Fulham after highlighting what “VAR missed”.
Liverpool took the lead through an Alexis Mac Allister thunderbolt before Fulham roared back at Craven Cottage with three goals in just 14 minutes from Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz to give them a 3-1 half-time advantage.
But the hosts could and perhaps should have also had the opportunity to score from the penalty spot after an indent in the fifth minute.
Ibrahima Konate attempted an ill-advised but of skill in his own box and was caught in possession by Andreas Pereira, who found 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 as deemed there was not enough in Van Dijk’s challenge to award the penalty.
But Pereira argued he was fouled by Caoimhin Kelleher after he had poked the ball on for Muniz and Carragher believes VAR failed to review the first collision.
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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But the Premier League Match Centre account on X, which provides information directly from Match Centre, the VAR Hub and PGMOL experts, confirmed both challenges were reviewed before VAR agreed with the on-field call not to award a penalty.
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.”
