The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel has thrown its weight behind the decision not to award Liverpool a penalty in their win at Ipswich Town earlier this month.
Liverpool were 2-0 up and cruising towards half-time when the flashpoint arrived. Cody Gakpo darted into the box, laid the ball off, and Abdul Fatawu came sliding across to block. The Ipswich man made contact with Gakpo on the edge of the area, sending the forward to ground and sparking instant appeals from the visitors.
Referee Darren England waved play on. No whistle, no hesitation. Up in the booth, VAR Nick Hopton took a look and chose not to send England to the monitor.
That could have been the start of another week-long row about officiating. Instead, the KMI Panel has moved to close the debate.
In its review, the panel voted 4-1 that the incident did not warrant a penalty and unanimously, 5-0, that there should be no VAR intervention or on-field review.
Describing it as “an unusual situation”, the panel noted that Fatawu made some contact with Gakpo only after the Liverpool forward had released the ball. The key point was the level of that contact.
According to the panel, the majority view was that the challenge fell “below the high threshold for a foul” and, crucially in VAR terms, did not amount to a “clear and obvious error” by the referee.
On a different day, with a different referee, Liverpool might have been pointing at the spot. On this one, the game – and the panel – sided firmly with the officials.
