Joe Cole says VAR actually made a massive blunder in Liverpool’s win against Crystal Palace

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Liverpool secured a hard-fought 1-0 win against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park as they opened up a four-point lead at the top of the Premier League standings.

Diogo Jota’s first-half goal made all the difference but Arne Slot’s side had to work their socks off to secure all three points on their travels.

While Liverpool dominated the first half, the second half was a different story as Palace grew into the game after an underwhelming start.

The Reds hung on to secure maximum points and a clean sheet, but Joe Cole feels they were a bit lucky as they got a refereeing decision in their favour.

Joe Cole says Crystal Palace should have had a penalty against Liverpool

The second half had a few talking points as Alisson Becker went down with a hamstring issue and was withdrawn for Viteszlav Jaros, who made his Premier League debut for the club.

But the bigger incident occurred a few minutes before Alisson’s injury when Virgil van Dijk was adjudged to have brought down Marc Guehi in the penalty area.

Palace appealed furiously and the VAR had a look, but they weren’t awarded a spot-kick as the Liverpool captain reportedly didn’t make enough contact on Guehi.

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However, Cole feels Van Dijk should have been penalised as he prevented Guehi from getting to the loose ball.

“He’s grabbed [Marc] Guehi’s hand. That could quite easily have got to him. Marc Guehi doesn’t react like that, I really think that’s a penalty,” said Cole on BBC Sport.

Former Premier League goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer was also in agreement with Cole, saying: “Liverpool are fortunate to not have a penalty against them Marc Guehi was pulled back by Virgil van Dijk.”

Referee made the right call

In our view, there wasn’t enough contact on Guehi for Palace to have earned a spot-kick.

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Granted, there was a bit of tugging between the Englishman and Van Dijk but it definitely wasn’t enough for the referee to flag it, let alone for the VAR to have a look and overturn his decision for a clear and obvious foul.

Liverpool weren’t at their best and had a handful of nervy moments, but they clung on for three points to continue their blistering start to the season.