Liverpool's imperious run looked to be on the rocks as they had as bad a first half as they could've thought of in their Premier League clash with Fulham.
The Reds went 1-0 down after just 11 minutes as former Manchester United man Andreas Pereira stretched out to meet Antonee Robinson's cross at the back post to give the Cottagers the lead in front of The Kop.
Liverpool's misery was compounded just minutes later as Andy Roberston was given the marching orders just after 17 minutes as he was deemed to have denied a goal-scoring opportunity after Harry Wilson nicked the ball off the Scottish fullback.
However many believed that Fulham's goalscorer Andreas Pereira was lucky to get away with a challenge on Liverpool's Ryan Gravenberch earlier in the match.
Moments before he scored, Pereira caught the Dutchman on the back of calf/achilles area and Graveneberch went down clutching his leg. He was able to continue but Pereira was just given a yellow card for the challenge and VAR deemed it not enough to upgrade to a red.
Liverpool fans weren't the only ones who were enraged by the non-decision but former Crystal Palace and Ireland man Damien Delaney voiced his displeasure with Tony Harrington and VAR's decision to not send off Pereira.
Speaking on Premier Sports at halftime of the clash, Delaney didn't beat around the bush with his belief that Pereira should've been given a red card.
He should've been sent off for this absolutely. That ball is gone, he's trying to slow down the counter attack and he could've just clipped his heels but that is down the back of his calf. Look at the way his ankle gets trapped, that could've done some serious damage to be honest with you.
I get what he's trying to do, to stop Gravenberch, but the manner in which he did it should've been upgraded to a red card.
Shay Given also gave his view on the non-decision and how he felt it's definitely should've been upgraded by VAR considering other red cards we've seen this season.
We've seen less red cards given for less, haven't we this season. Think he's very, very lucky and ironically for Liverpool couple minutes later he gets the goal.
They weren't the only two who felt the Brazilian should've been sent off as former Premier League Referee Mike Dean agreed that Pereira should've been sent off challenge on Gravenberch, feeling that it was cynical.
He's nowhere near the ball. He knew what he was doing. It's 100 per cent a red card.
Andreas Pereira gives Fulham the lead over Liverpool 🔳
Mike Dean believes he should have had a red card... pic.twitter.com/VmBnQcMXsJ
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 14, 2024
It looks like that challenge will just become another in an ever growing list of controversial VAR decisions.
It potentially could've been a costly decision for the Reds as Rodrigo Muniz gave Fulham the 2-1 lead with just under 15 minutes to go after Cody Gakpo put away Mohamed Salah's cross to equalise for Liverpool.
However Diogo Jota gave Liverpool another equaliser in the 85th minute as the matched ended 2-2. Jota's goal prevented Arsenal from gaining any ground on them as the Gunners also drew 0-0 at home to Everton.
Liverpool remain top of the Premier League table, 5 points clear of Chelsea who play Brentford on Sunday.
