Premier League explain two big first-half decisions in Liverpool v Fulham, but silent on another | OneFootball

The standard of Premier League refereeing has once again been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons during the first half of Liverpool’s clash against Fulham at Anfield this afternoon.

In the very first minute of the match, Issa Diop clattered into Andy Robertson with a dangerous challenge which was referred to VAR for a potential red card, but the on-field decision of yellow was upheld.

The Premier League Match Centre on X explained: ‘The referee issued a yellow card to Diop for a challenge on Robertson. VAR checked for a potential red card and confirmed the referee’s call of reckless challenge and yellow card.’

A quarter of an hour later, Robertson was sent off for a last-man foul on Harry Wilson, a decision which was subjected to a lengthy VAR check for a potential offside by the Fulham attacker before replays confirmed that the on-field call was correct.

The Premier League Match Centre‘s explanation: ‘The referee issued a red card to Robertson for a foul on Wilson which denied a goal scoring opportunity. VAR checked to confirm the red card and that Wilson was in an onside position.’

Premier League refereeing in the spotlight yet again…

While those two incidents went to VAR, we’d love to hear an explanation from the PGMOL as to why that didn’t happen for Andreas Pereira’s cowardly foul on Ryan Gravenberch in the first few minutes, which Harrington deemed worthy of only a yellow card.

Replays showed that it was highly dangerous and deserved a red (as Mike Dean stated), but for some reason the incident wasn’t even referred to those in Stockley Park, and the torment for Liverpool fans was compounded a couple of minutes later when the ex-Manchester United midfielder opened the scoring.

While the referee had no choice but to dismiss Robertson once the offside check on Wilson was completed, Diop can feel fortunate that he wasn’t sent off for a wild challenge on the Scottish left-back inside the opening 60 seconds.

If Arne Slot can keep his counsel on those decisions in his post-match media duties, he deserves a medal for being so patient and philosophical when he’d have every right to be spitting fire.