Newcastle United's Champions League-chasing rivals Liverpool closed the gap to the Magpies after yet another controversial VAR decision at Anfield.
The Reds scraped past Fulham thanks to a Mohamed Salah penalty but the awarding of the spot-kick dominated post-match headlines. Referee Stuart Atwell pointed to the spot after Issa Diop brought down Liverpool attacker Darwin Nunez in the box with fan opinion split as to whether there was contact.
Fulham captain Tom Cairney was not happy with the decision and has claimed Atwell even told one of his team-mates the penalty shouldn't have been awarded during a second-half conversation.
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“At the time, I wasn’t sure [if it was a penalty]. The ref made a decision, I thought he’d seen contact. I asked him on the pitch, ‘please just make sure they check it.’" Cairney said at full-time. “He said they checked it, but he said second half to one of our players that it wasn’t a penalty, so it’s frustrating because it goes to other people to make the correct decision.”
The win sees Liverpool move within six points of Newcastle as the Premier League season nears its conclusion. The Merseyside outfit could halve that deficit should they beat Brentford on Saturday evening.
Newcastle aren't back in action until Sunday afternoon as they welcome Arsenal to St James' Park. Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is unfazed by constant talk of top four qualification and admits the matter is out of his side's hands.
"It's about probabilities. If Newcastle and Manchester United win all their games, we have no chance," Klopp said. "If Brighton win all their games, they are ahead of us. That's the situation. We just have to win our games and see where it takes us.
"At the moment I'm happy with our direction. We just have to keep going and in the end we'll look at the table and take what we can get."
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