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 burst towards the edge of the area. As he laid the ball off, Abdul Fatawu slid in to block and caught the forward on the stretch, sending him to ground right on the line of the box.

Referee Darren England waved play on. In the VAR booth, Nick Hopton stuck with the on-field call and chose not to send England to the monitor.

Panel Vote: 4-1 against penalty; Unanimous: 5-0 against VAR intervention

That sequence has now been reviewed by the league’s independent KMI Panel, which voted 4-1 that no penalty should have been awarded and unanimously – 5-0 – that there was no case for a VAR intervention.

In its explanation, the panel described it as “an unusual situation where some contact is made by Fatawu on Gakpo after the ball is laid off.”

Their view was that the challenge did not reach the level required for a foul in such a key moment.

“The majority feeling was that the contact was below the high threshold for a foul,” the panel said, adding that all five members agreed it was not 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, was handled exactly as the framework demands.