Premier League release statement after Crystal Palace denied penalty in Liverpool defeat
Virgil van Dijk held down Marc Guehi's arm
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The Premier League Match Centre has released an explanation as to why Crystal Palace weren't awarded a penalty in the second half against Liverpool on Saturday.
Diogo Jota put the visitors in front with a well-taken finish inside the box in the first half.
Arne Slot's side had several chances to put the game to bed, but the score remained 1-0 as Palace began to grow in confidence.
The hosts piled on the pressure midway through the second half with Alisson having to come to the rescue for Liverpool on several occasions.
Virgil van Dijk held down Marc Guehi's arm
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But there was a contentious moment in the latter stages of the half when Marc Guehi went down inside the box under pressure from Virgil van Dijk.
The referee waved away protests from the central defender with VAR agreeing with the on-field decision.
Replays showed Van Dijk had a hold of Guehi's arm before the Palace defender fell to the floor.
Joe Cole felt the officials got it wrong at the time, insisting Liverpool were fortunate.
"He’s grabbed [Marc] Guehi’s hand. That could quite easily have got to him," Cole said on TNT Sports.
"Marc Guehi doesn’t react like that, I really think that’s a penalty."
But the VAR team have explained, via the Premier League Match Centre, that they didn't feel the challenge had any impact on the play.
Their statement read: "The referee’s call of no penalty for the challenge by van Dijk on Guéhi is checked and confirmed by VAR - deeming that the challenge was not sustained holding and had no impact on the play."
Virgil van Dijk felt Marc Guehi exaggerated the contact
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A replay of the incident was shown to Slot after the game, who agreed with the VAR's view that Guehi wouldn't have got to the ball.
And he also took a sly dig at the referee for not giving his side more free-kicks in the match.
"The ball is going to the goalkeeper, he would have never got there," he said.
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"That's always with VAR. If he would have given this one, he wouldn't have changed it - the VAR.
"For me, this is never a penalty because he will never get the ball.
"In general, I don't think Palace fans can be unhappy with the referee today because I think it took us 55 minutes before we got our first free-kick."
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