Ex-Premier League referee Mike Dean reckons one red card decision during Liverpool vs Fulham was incorrect, as the Reds battled to draw 2-2 with 10 men on the field.
Mike Dean reckons Andreas Pereira shouldn’t have been on the pitch to score Fulham’s opening goal of their 2-2 draw with Liverpool. The Brazilian escaped what was ‘100 per cent a red card’ – according to Dean – and instead it was the Reds who played the majority of that Saturday afternoon meeting reduced to 10 men.
The latest Premier League fixture at Anfield was embroiled in controversy right from the outset. A statement was released explaining why Fulham’s Issa Diop was not sent-off inside one minute for a challenge on Andy Robertson, before the visitors opened the scoring through Pereira – while Robertson was dismissed for a challenge of his own.
After tackling Harry Wilson after a loose touch towards his own penalty area, referee Tony Harrington brandished the red card and reduced Liverpool to 10 men for what was later confirmed as denial of a goalscoring opportunity. However, going missing among these other flashpoints was another challenge, made by the man who would grab Fulham’s opener on opposite midfielder Ryan Gravenberch.
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Moments before using his right boot to hook a volley in from a back-post cross, it was the studs of his left that raked down the back of the Dutchman’s leg. “I think judging by what we saw in the week in the programme that Howard [Webb] did [Mic’d up],” started ex-Premier League referee Dean.
“It’s the same challenge as [Wilfred] Ndidi on the back of Cole Palmer.” Dean was speaking on Sky Sports.
Dean added: “He’s caught him just above the Achilles with his studs and scraped down to the top of the boot. In my opinion he’s nowhere near the ball, he knows what he’s doing and it’s 100 per cent a red card.”
However, Pereira remained on the field of play, before the inevitable happened. Despite their reduced number of players, Liverpool rallied twice from trailing positions to end the game 2-2.
Harrington’s dishing out of a yellow card to Luis Diaz also in the early stages – for attempting an overhead kick – had rather set the tone for an afternoon on which he handed out nine cards in total. That included Robertson’s straight red, meaning he will miss the next match – Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Southampton.
Arne Slot will also be absent from the touchline for that one after Harrington handed out the head coach his third yellow card of the season. He crossed that threshold for complaining the yellow that had just been given to Curtis Jones for a sliding challenge.
