Trent Alexander-Arnold's dramatic winner leaves Fulham bench furious with VAR

03 December 2023 , 18:06

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Trent Alexander-Arnold's dramatic winner leaves Fulham bench furious with VAR

Fulham's players were left heartbroken and their coaching staff left furious after their dramatic 4-3 defeat against Liverpool.

In a contender for the Premier League game of the season so far, the Cottagers appeared to have won it late on when Bobby Decordova-Reid put them 3-2 ahead. But in a chaotic final few minutes, Endo levelled for the hosts before Trent Alexander-Arnold ensured Anfield erupted.

The full-back fired a low half-volley past Fulham keeper Jay Leno and into the bottom corner. But while there was little wrong with legitimacy of the strike, Marco Silva and co were left enraged by what had happened in the build-up.

Prior to the ball falling at the feet of the England international, a lobbed cross by Darwin Nunez was partially cleared by Decordova-Reid. But as he made contact with the ball he appeared to be shoved hard in the back by Konstantinos Tsimikas and duly hit the deck.

However, amid the wild Liverpool celebrations, there was no apparent VAR intervention. Commentating for BBC Radio 5 Live, one former Red in Stephen Warnock noted the protests.

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"Fulham aren't happy on the bench, they think there is a foul on the back post on Decordova-Reid," he said. "Alexander-Arnold sets himself and pulls the trigger, again Leno nowhere near it. Wow what a couple of minutes for Liverpool. You have to feel for Fulham, they have given everything in this game."

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Trent Alexander-Arnold celebrates his winenr against Fulham (Getty Images)

To Silva's credit, he didn't dwell on the moment in his post-match interview. However, the Portuguese boss was adamant his side deserved to take something away from the game.

"A great Premier League match, I have to say," said Silva. "Overall, clearly we deserved much more from what we took from the game. We showed the character to twice come back and score, and for them to equalise, in style I have to say, then lead again.....well we deserved much more."

The defeat leaves Fulham 14th in the table, still seven points clear of the bottom three. Liverpool moved up to second prior to Manchester City's match against Tottenham.

Fraser Watson