Panel Backs Decision Against Liverpool Penalty at Ipswich

The Premier League’s Key Match Incidents Panel has backed the on-field decision not to award Liverpool a penalty in their win at Ipswich Town earlier this month.

Liverpool were 2-0 up late in the first half when Cody Gakpo went down on the edge of the area under a challenge from Abdul Fatawu, who slid in to block after Gakpo had laid the ball off. Referee Darren England waved play on. VAR Nick Hopton chose not to send him to the monitor.

That sequence has now been reviewed by the league’s independent panel. Their verdict was emphatic.

By a 4-1 majority, the panel ruled it should not have been a penalty. On the question of VAR involvement, the decision was unanimous: a 5-0 vote that there should be no review.

In its explanation, the panel described it as “an unusual situation where some contact is made by Fatawu on Gakpo after the ball is laid off”.

They concluded that the contact “was below the high threshold for a foul” and “was not a clear and obvious error for VAR intervention”.

On this one, at least, the officials’ original judgment stands without a shadow of doubt from those asked to scrutinise it.