This is why Fulham's penalty against Sunderland was awarded - and why offside wasn't considered
Sunderland fell to a 3-1 defeat against Fulham on Sunday afternoon
Brian Brobbey was deemed to have committed a holding offence on Calvin Bassey for the penalty award that proved so crucial in Sunderland’s defeat to Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
Referee Craig Pawson initially waved played on after a free kick was swung into the Sunderland box from the right-hand side, but the Fulham players immediately appealed for a foul. Pawson was then advised to review in the incident on the pitchside monitor, and determined that Brobbey had fouled Bassey as the ball was delivered into the box.
Brobbey was shown a yellow card and Raul Jimenez scored from the spot, his second of the game coming just minutes after his opener. The Premier League match centre released the following statement on the incident, saying that Brobbey had held Bassey.
The statement said: “After VAR review, the referee overturned the original decision of no penalty to Fulham.
“Referee announcement: “After review, Sunderland 9 commits a holding offence on his opponent. Final decision is a penalty kick to Fulham and a yellow card to Sunderland 9.”
While there were some suspicions that Bassey may have been offside when the free kick was taken, The Echo understands that this not deemed relevant to the decision as the holding offence took place before any potential offside came into play (i.e at the point at which Bassey or any of his team mates could be deemed to be interfering with play). This is why the offside was not checked as part of the process - with the penalty awarded once Pawson was satisfied a foul had been committed by Brobbey.
Though Enzo Le Fee scored from the spot shortly afterwards when Ballard was hauled down in the box to give Sunderland some hope, Alex Iwobi added a third for Fulham on the break.
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Injury worries mount for Sunderland on costly afternoon
Though Sunderland welcomed back Granit Xhaka from injury as a second-half substitute in the defeat, it proved to be a costly afternoon for the Black Cats.
Dennis Cirkin was ruled out ahead of the game with what Le Bris says is a minor injury, having already seen Reinildo ruled out for a month with a knee issue. Nordi Mukiele was then forced off inside the first 15 minutes of the game, with Jocelin Ta Bi following before the break on his full Premier League debut.
Le Bris revealed afterwards that there also concerns of Brian Brobbey and Romaine Mundle, who both picked up injuries in the game.
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