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Premier League issue explanation as VAR overrules Fulham vs Liverpool officials TWICE
Jan 04 2026 17:17 · By Felix Keith/Senior Sports Reporter · 102 Reads
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The Premier League has explained why Florian Wirtz's goal for Liverpool against Fulham was allowed to stand. Wirtz swept a finish past Bernd Leno to make it 1-1 on Sunday afternoon, only for the offside flag to go up.
The Liverpool forward had been played in by Conor Bradley inside the box, but appeared to be offside and the linesman's flag quickly went up. Wirtz didn't argue and it seemed that Liverpool were going to be denied for a second time after Cody Gakpo had earlier scored an offside goal.
But after a long delay at Craven Cottage, VAR confirmed that the German had in fact been onside when the pass was played to him in the 57th minute. A statement from the Premier League match centre read: "VAR checked the referee’s call of no goal – and established that Wirtz was in an onside position and recommended that the goal was awarded."
The decision surprised former Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who said on BBC Radio 5 Live: "Looking at replays of that Liverpool goal, every frame that they stop at it looks offside. It's a strange one."
It was the second time in the same game that VAR had been forced to intervene and overrule an on-field decision. In the first half Harry Wilson put Fulham 1-0 up from a pass by Raul Jimenez, only to see the flag go up.
But like Wirtz, his goal was eventually allowed to stand following a check by the officials at Stockley Park. The match centre said: "VAR checked the referee’s call of no goal – and established that Wilson was in an onside position and recommended that the goal was awarded."
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Both offside calls were extremely close and VAR ensured both were allowed to stand after the assistant referee flagged incorrectly.
Wilson put Fulham ahead in the 17th minute following a perfectly-timed run and pass from Jimenez. The in-form Welshman raced away from Ryan Gravenberch and fired a powerful finish into the bottom corner past Alisson.
The goal was ruled out for offside before VAR showed that Virgil van Dijk had in fact been playing Wilson onside as the last man.
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