Latest Liverpool news and gossip as former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher gives his verdict on the penalty claim involving Virgil van Dijk and Marc Guehi of Crystal Palace
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has explained why the right decision was made not to award a penalty for Crystal Palace against Liverpool. The Reds claimed a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park on Saturday with Diogo Jota scoring the decisive goal in the first half.
Despite Liverpool claiming all three points to remain top of the table, Palace felt they should have been awarded a penalty in the second half after Virgil van Dijk appeared to have his arm on Marc Guehi. The home side appealed for a spot-kick but referee Simon Hooper and VAR did not believe the challenge warranted a penalty.
The incident has led to debate over whether or not Liverpool were fortunate not to concede a penalty. Sky Sports analysed the moment on Monday morning, with Gallagher joining Sue Smith, Stephen Warnock and host Rob Wotton.
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Gallagher explained why the incident involving Van Dijk was not given as a penalty and was asked to compare it to when Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana appeared to hold Crysencio Summerville of West Ham in a previous fixture which many argued was also a penalty.
“It’s interesting watching it [Van Dijk and Guehi] in slow motion because it takes longer to run, twice as long to hold, if you watch it in speed, it doesn’t look anything like that,” Gallagher told Sky Sports.
“It is different (when watching on replay), it’s gone very quickly, it’s gone to the goalkeeper.
“They’ve [PGMOL] worked on two things this season, it’s got to be sustained holding – what is it? That’s up to the individual – and it’s got to have an impact, but it had no impact because it hadn’t gone to [Marc] Guehi, the goalkeeper had punched the ball when he’s tried to move.
“It’s totally different (to the incident between West Ham and Chelsea) because the player’s on the ball, it started outside the box and taken inside, the fact it’s taken so long to go that far, that’s why I thought that was a penalty.
“It was clear that pre-season they sent out this message about consequence, we’re seven weeks in, I’m much happier with where we are with the tolerance level.”