Joel Matip very lucky to avoid punishment as controversial Liverpool footage analysed – expert
Alan Hutton has insisted Everton should have been awarded a penalty against Liverpool when Anthony Gordon was brought down in the box by Joel Matip.
The former defender, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, insisted there was no defending the Reds’ 30-year-old after he collided with the Toffees’ star.
In footage relayed by Sky Sports from Sunday’s game (24 April), Gordon went to ground in the box after contact with Matip.
However, the officials did not give a foul.
With Gordon running at full pace, Hutton insisted the contact from Matip was enough to bring the winger down.
He admitted he thought the officials got it wrong.
Hutton told Football Insider’s Russell Edge: “Penalty. It’s a penalty.
“I’ve heard all the debate about it. If you’re running at full pace and somebody pushes you in the back, I’ll tell you what, you’re going down.
“They talk about how he went down theatrically and all this. That’s how you fall down when you’re running at full pace. You won’t know until you’ve done it.
“When you’re running at that pace and you get a whack on the back or side of the leg, it happens so quickly it can throw you off balance and you’re down.
“It doesn’t matter how he has gone down, a foul’s a foul. If there’s contact and there’s enough to drop you, it’s a foul.
“He’s got the wrong side of him, there’s contact, he’s in the box bearing down on goal. It’s a penalty, it’s quite as simple as that.
“Whether I was a defender or not, if I did that to someone, I’d expect a foul against me. Frank Lampard will feel very hard done by watching that back.
“You never want to see people diving about, you want to see them stay on their feet. Ultimately, I have seen players stay on their feet and get nothing.”
In other news, ex-official claims another star lucky to escape ban after Liverpool v Everton footage analysed.