Panel Backs Decision Not to Award 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 and in control late in the first half when Cody Gakpo went down on the edge of the area under a challenge from Abdul Fatawu, who had slid in to block. Referee Darren England waved play on, and VAR Nick Hopton chose not to send him to the monitor.

That sequence has now been formally reviewed. The KMI Panel voted 4-1 that the incident did not warrant a penalty and unanimously – 5-0 – that there should be no VAR intervention.

In its explanation, the panel described it as “an unusual situation” in which Fatawu made some contact with Gakpo only after the Liverpool forward had laid the ball off. The members agreed that the contact fell “below the high threshold for a foul” and that the original decision did not amount to a “clear and obvious error” that would justify VAR stepping in.

On a weekend packed with tight calls, this one, in the eyes of the league’s own reviewers, stays firmly in the referee’s column.