Premier League issue Liverpool vs Chelsea VAR penalty statement as Jamie Carragher disagrees

Chelsea news as pundits offer analysis of Liverpool penalty decisions in what proved to be a high-octane and incident-packed Premier League showdown at Anfield.

Jamie Carragher was surprised not to see Liverpool awarded a second penalty - in the first half against Chelsea - after referee Craig Pawson initially punished Rob Sanchez for a collision with Curtis Jones. After VAR review, the decision was overturned.

Jones, who had been front and centre of the game when Levi Colwill brought him down in the 18-yard box earlier on, this time got a shot away. It squirmed under Sanchez and Jones was sent tumbling.

Pawson was quick to point to the spot. VAR at Stockley Park checked the coming together and urged an on-field review. The decision was duly reversed.

However, Carragher reckons Enzo Maresca's team were lucky to get away with it. "Chelsea are fortunate because the referee gave the penalty on the pitch," he said on Sky Sports at half-time. "I think it's one that goes either way, there's definitely an angle where it's not a penalty.

"This [angle facing Jones' back] is one where you can see it getting overturned; it looks like a block tackle, and Jones goes flying over. This angle [side] I don't think the goalkeeper gets enough of the ball.

"The days are well gone, 10 years ago, if you got a touch [to not be a foul]. Getting a touch then completely taking someone out is not enough in the modern game. I think Chelsea are fortunate."

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Daniel Sturridge could only see it going in the away side's favour. "Initially when I saw it I thought it was getting overturned," he said. "You don't see Curtis Jones try to shoot, he holds off instead of accelerating to the ball. You can see a touch, dependent on the angle what the referee saw - would impact the decision. This angle, that looks like a pen.

As for Micah Richards, he came down in the middle. "Depends which angle you're looking at," he said. "The referee has gone over and made a big decision. That first initial contact, I didn't think it was a penalty, the right decision."

Gary Neville, speaking on commentary, got an additional insight. "It's so messy, Maresca has his arms out wide," he said. "It's a really strange action from Sanchez and there's a little bit of something there and I think that might bring VAR in. It's fortunate, Maresca is going to get away with it.

"Well, what the VAR has said [is]; 'Sanchez's contact kicks it against Jones and Jones' left leg kicks the ball forward'. And he's right. That's the angle that brought it home that here was contact with the ball. It's still really clumsy work from Sanchez, though, so unorthodox the way he commits towards the ball and towards Curtis Jones."

The Premier League's Match Centre X (formerly Twitter) account, explained: "The referee awarded the penalty to Liverpool for a foul by Sanchez on Jones. The VAR deemed Sanchez won the ball and no foul was committed and recommended an on-field review. The referee overturned the original decision and play restarted with a drop ball."

As for the first penalty, it wrote: "The referee awarded a penalty for a foul by Colwill on Jones. The VAR checked and confirmed the referee's call, deeming that contact was sufficient for a penalty."

Neville also agreed that, despite Colwill's protests, Liverpool's first penalty was the correct call. That is a decision Carragher, Sturridge, and Richards all concurred with, too.

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