Joe Cole believes that Crystal Palace were denied a spot kick in their game against Liverpool, describing Virgil van Dijk’s pulling of Marc Guehi’s arm as a ‘nailed-on penalty’.
With the game at Selhurst Park poised at 1-0 to the Merseysiders, Trevoh Chalboh flicked the ball towards goal from a set-piece situation, with Marc Guehi, looking to attack the flick, seemingly hauled down by Virgil van Dijk in the six-yard box. The Reds went onto see the victory out and claim all three points in South London, with this contentious moment sparking debate online.
According to the Premier League match centre, the holding from Van Dijk wasn’t deemed as ‘sustained holding’ and had ‘no impact on the play’, and was thus checked and cleared by VAR.It’s safe to say former Liverpool winger and now pundit Cole didn’t agree with this explanation, arguing Palace were harshly denied a golden opportunity to equalise. Speaking on the TNT Sports coverage of the game, he said:”We had it didn’t we, at West Ham? I don’t understand, fleetingly, he’s grabbed Marc Guehi’s hand. You can shout that he’s not going to get the ball, but Van Dijk doesn’t know that. As Chalobah hits it into the ground, that could quite easily have got to him.
“He’s grabbed him by the arm and held him back. I looked at the players’ reactions, and Marc Guehi’s not one to claim for something unless he really thinks it’s a penalty, and he really felt it was a penalty. That tells me that it’s a nailed-on penalty. Liverpool have got away with one there.”
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