The LiVARpool label seems to be sticking to the Merseyside team in red, after yet another call goes their way, leaving not only Fulham fans fuming, but the rest of the English Premier League teams’ fans as well.
There is no doubt that Liverpool have been the biggest beneficiaries of the Video Assistant Referee over the last few seasons, with an endless amount of data pointing towards that very fact. On Wednesday evening, this fact rang true once more, as the Reds were again handed a dodgy penalty which ultimately sealed three essential points in their hunt for a spot in next season’s European tournaments.
In the 39th minute of the game, Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez seemed to be on the end of a wild leg swing by Issa Diop, leading referee Stuart Attwell to point to the spot almost immediately. The call seemed to be the correct one, but a slow-motion video review shows that Diop did not make any contact with Nunez, and it was in fact the Uruguayan who threw himself to the floor. Mohamed Salah stepped up to smash the penalty down the middle and give his team the lead, picking up his 18th of the season, and solidifying Liverpool’s position at the classier end of the table.
Before this incident, and for pretty much the rest of the game, it was a relatively even contest, with Allison keeping out Fulham striker Carlos Vinicius on a few occasions. The game could easily have ended as a draw, and looking at the VAR footage, it probably should have.
If the VAR team had spent more than two seconds reviewing the footage, or even invited referee Attwell to review it himself, the Egyptian’s penalty would not have been given. It was however given, and scored, so how does that affect the bigger picture and Liverpool’s season as a whole?
For Fulham, this loss doesn’t seem too detrimental, as they are guaranteed to stay in the Prem for another season. For Liverpool on the other hand, the result sees them clinging to 5th spot with a definite shout for the final Champions League spot come the end of the season. This after most of the season was going pretty much as badly as their fans could have expected when the season kicked off in August.
The question remains though, do they deserve to be where they are right now? Especially considering what happened in the Spurs game less than a week prior to their latest VAR gift.