- Andreas Pereira opened the scoring for Fulham against Liverpool on Saturday
- But Pereira was perhaps fortunate to stay on the pitch for a previous challenge
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Andreas Pereira opened the scoring for Fulham against Liverpool, just moments after he could have been sent off for a foul on Ryan Gravenberch.
The Brazilian gave Marco Silva’s side the perfect start at Anfield as he finished off a fine team move, although the ball did deflect in off Andy Robertson.
However, minutes earlier, Pereira was booked after he caught the back of Gravenberch’s leg with his studs, but many felt the midfielder got away with one.
On Soccer Saturday, Michael Dawson was covering the game and claimed he should’ve been given a red card by Tony Harrington, while refereeing expert and former official Mike Dean was even stronger in his views.
‘I think judging by what we saw in the week in the programme that Howard (Webb) did (Mic’d up),’ he said.
‘It’s the same challenge as Ndidi on the back of Cole Palmer. He’s caught him just above the achilles with his studs and and scraped down to the top of the boot.
Andreas Pereira controversially opened the scoring for Fulham against Liverpool , just moments after the Fulham star could 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
The Fulham midfielder’s studs came down Gravenberch’s legs, leaving Liverpool furious
‘In my opinion he’s nowhere near the ball, he knows what he’s doing and it’s 100 per cent a red card.’
Dawson had earlier said: ‘What a finish, however Liverpool will be questioning whether Pereira should have had a red card?
‘I think we saw it a few weeks ago when Tom Cairney made a foul on Kulusevski, straight down the back of his achilles.
‘This was very very similar. Tony Harrington gave him a yellow card, VAR I’m guessing had a look at it and it wasn’t anything.’
The chaotic start to the game continued when Liverpool defender Robertson was then given his marching orders just 17 minutes into the game to cap a disastrous start for the Reds.
The Scot was guilty of a terrible touch, before he brought down Harry Wilson and was dismissed.
After a VAR check, the decision – which came after Issa Diop and Luis Diaz also picked up yellows inside the first 10 minutes – was confirmed, to leave the league-leading Reds up against it.
Explaining the decision, the Premier League Match Centre said: ‘The referee issued a red card to Robertson for a foul on Wilson which denied a goal scoring opportunity.
Mike Dean couldn’t believe Pereira got away with it, labelling the foul ‘100 per cent a red card’
Andy Robertson was then sent off for fouling Harry Wilson to cap a mad start to the game
‘VAR checked to confirm the red card and that Wilson was in an onside position.’
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Ndidi-Palmer challenge Dean refereed to was in relation to an incident last month when the Leicester midfielder was only cautioned after his high tackle on Palmer caught the Chelsea star’s achilles.
The tackle was reviewed by VAR but the decision was taken to stick with Andrew Madley’s on-field call.
However, PGMOL boss Howard Webb has admitted that Ndidi was fortunate to escape a dismissal.
‘We’ve looked at this collectively, among the officials, talked about this, and we would prefer this to be dealt with a red card,’ Webb said. ‘We have to protect player safety.’
