- Andreas Pereira opened the scoring for Fulham against Liverpool on Saturday
- But Pereira was perhaps lucky to stay on the pitch during an earlier challenge
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Andreas Pereira opened the scoring for Fulham against Liverpool, moments after he could have been sent off for a foul on Ryan Gravenberch.
The Brazilian gave Marco Silva’s side a perfect start at Anfield when he finished off a fine team move, although the ball deflected off Andy Robertson.
However, a few minutes earlier Pereira was shown a yellow card after hitting the back of Gravenberch’s leg with his studs, but many felt the midfielder got away with it.
On Football Saturday, Michael Dawson covered the match and claimed he should have been shown a red card by Tony Harrington, while refereeing expert and former official Mike Dean was even stronger in his views.
‘I just think of what we saw this week on the program that Howard (Webb) did (Mic’d up),” he said.
“It’s the same challenge as Ndidi on the back of 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, just moments after the Fulham star could have been sent off for a foul on Ryan Gravenberch
Pereira hit the back of Gravenberch’s legs but was only shown a yellow card for the challenge
The Fulham midfielder’s studs fell past Gravenberch’s legs, infuriating Liverpool
“I don’t think he’s near the ball, he knows what he’s doing and it’s 100 percent a red card.”
Dawson had previously said: ‘What a finish, but Liverpool will be wondering if Pereira should have been shown a red card?
“I think we saw it a few weeks ago when Tom Cairney fouled Kulusevski, right down the back of his Achilles tendon.
‘This was very similar. Tony Harrington gave him a yellow card, I assume VAR looked at it and it was nothing.”
The chaotic start to the match continued when Liverpool defender Robertson was given his marching orders just 17 minutes into the match to cap off a disastrous start for the Reds.
The Scot was guilty of a terrible touch before bringing down Harry Wilson and being dismissed.
After a VAR check, the decision – which came after Issa Diop and Luis Diaz also received yellow cards within the first ten minutes – was confirmed, meaning that the league-leader Reds had to go down.
Explaining the decision, the Premier League Match Center said: ‘The referee showed Robertson a red card for a foul on Wilson, denying a goal-scoring opportunity.
Mike Dean couldn’t believe Pereira got away with it, calling the foul ‘100 percent a red card’
Andy Robertson was then sent off for a foul on Harry Wilson, capping off a crazy start to the match
‘The VAR checked whether the red card had been confirmed and that Wilson was in an onside position.’
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Ndidi-Palmer challenge that Dean whistled at was linked to an incident last month, when the Leicester midfielder was only cautioned after his high tackle on Palmer struck the Chelsea star’s Achilles tendon.
The tackle was reviewed by VAR, but the decision was made to stand by Andrew Madley’s call on the pitch.
However, PGMOL boss Howard Webb has admitted Ndidi was lucky to escape a sack.
“We’ve looked at this collectively, among the officials, talked about it, and we would prefer this to be dealt with with a red card,” Webb said. “We have to protect player safety.”