- Andreas Pereira opened the scoring for Fulham against Liverpool on Saturday
- But Pereira was perhaps lucky to remain on the field for an earlier challenge.
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Andreas Pereira opened the scoring for Fulham against Liverpool, moments after many felt he should have been sent off for a foul on Ryan Gravenberch.
The Brazilian gave Marco Silva’s team a perfect start at Anfield by finishing off a good team move, although the ball deflected off Andy Robertson.
However, minutes earlier, Pereira was booked after catching the back of Gravenberch’s leg with his studs, but many felt the midfielder got away with it.
On Football Saturday, Michael Dawson was covering the match and felt Tony Harrington should have given him a red card, while refereeing expert and former official Mike Dean was even firmer in his views.
‘YO I think judging by what we saw this week on the show that Howard (Webb) did (Mic’d up),’ he said.
‘It’s the same challenge as Ndidi riding Cole Palmer. He caught it just above the Achilles tendon with his studs and scraped it to the top of the boot.
Andreas Pereira controversially opened the scoring for Fulham against Liverpool, moments after many felt he should have been sent off for a foul on Ryan Gravenberch.
Pereira caught the back of Gravenberch’s legs, but was only booked for the challenge.
Mike Dean couldn’t believe Pereira got his way and called the challenge “100 per cent a red card”.
“In my opinion, he’s not close to the ball, he knows what he’s doing and it’s 100 percent a red card.”
The chaotic start to the game continued when Liverpool defender Robertson was ordered off just 17 minutes into the game to cap a disastrous start for the Reds.
The Scot was guilty of a terrible touch before bringing down Harry Wilson and being dismissed.
Following a VAR review, the decision was confirmed, which came after Issa Diop and Luis Díaz were also booked in the first 10 minutes, leaving the league leaders Reds on the back foot.
Explaining the decision, the Premier League Match Center said: “The referee showed a red card to Robertson for a foul on Wilson which denied a scoring opportunity.
“The VAR reviewed to confirm the red card and that Wilson was in an onside position.”
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Ndidi-Palmer challenge that Dean referred to was linked to an incident last month when the Leicester midfielder was only booked after his high tackle on Palmer caught the Chelsea star’s Achilles tendon.
Andy Robertson was then sent off for fouling Harry Wilson to cap a crazy start to the game.
The incident was reviewed by VAR but the decision was made to go ahead with Andrew Madley’s on-field call.
However, PGMOL boss Howard Webb admitted Ndidi was lucky to avoid a sacking.
“We have looked at this collectively, among officials, we have talked about this and we would prefer it be dealt with with a red card,” Webb said. “We have to protect the safety of the players.”
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