Premier League make announcement about major Van Dijk incident v Fulham
Virgil van Dijk was involved in a moment of controversy for Liverpool in the first half against Fulham on Sunday.
The Reds took the lead through a long-range Alexis Mac Allister strike before Ryan Sessegnon levelled the scores less than 10 minutes later.
Going in at the break, Arne Slot’s men find themselves 3-1 down thanks to goals from Rodrigo Muniz and Alex Iwobi before the interval.
This came after the home side shared a number of complaints towards referee Chris Kavanagh as Van Dijk was involved in a moment of contention after five minutes, with the Premier League now sharing a reaction.
Premier League make statement after Fulham v Liverpool controversy
The Cottagers weren’t shy in their protests towards the match officials as both Andreas Pereira and Muniz went down inside the penalty area.
Ibrahima Konate made an error which afforded the home side possession within 12 yards of Caoimhin Kelleher’s goal.
The Republic of Ireland international flew out looking the win the ball and missed it as he seemed to collide with the Fulham midfielder.
As the ball made its way past the keeper towards Muniz, the striker collided with Van Dijk, but no foul was given against either party.
With that being said, the Premier League have shared an announcement via the Match Centre profile on X (6 April) to explain the decision.
It says: “The referee’s call of no penalty to Fulham following a challenge by Kelleher on Pereira was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed a coming together and not a reckless action. The VAR also checked and cleared the incident between van Dijk and Muniz.”
Liverpool get away with one v Fulham
There is reason to say that a penalty could have been given against Kelleher for his contact on Pereira off the ball.
The Brazilian had already passed the ball before being wiped out by the Irishman, but the Reds will be happy to have seen the keeper pass a VAR check.
What Slot won’t be happy to see is his side conceding three goals in a matter of minutes after going 1-0 up at Craven Cottage.
| Stat | Fulham | Liverpool |
| Possession | 46 | 54 |
| Shots | 9 | 2 |
| Big chances | 2 | 0 |
| Passes completed | 173 | 205 |
Regardless of any interventions from VAR, the Reds have been far from good enough and arguably deserve to be 3-1 down going into the break.
It will certainly be interesting to see how Slot’s men bounce back after what was a disastrous phase of play after Mac Allister’s goal.