Former Premier League referee Jeff Winter believes Virgil van Dijk didn’t foul Rodrigo Muniz against Fulham, despite some of his contemporaries insisting the Liverpool captain should have been punished.

The Reds had a day to forget as their title charge stalled at Craven Cottage with a 3-2 defeat.

Andreas Pereira was upended by Caoimhin Kelleher in the process of squaring the ball to Rodrigo Muniz, who collided with Virgil van Dijk as Liverpool escaped conceding early - not that it helped them in the context of the rest of the game.

Neither incident resulted in a penalty despite a VAR check, although that has raised the ire of one or two pundits, including former official Keith Hackett.

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“I think the Fulham manager has every right to jump up and down in the technical area when he sees two incidents – neither given, unbelievable!” Hackett told Football Insider.

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In the same phase of play, Virgil van Dijk turns his body on his opponent in an act of unfair impeding – an offense – on Muniz, and we’ve got a double scenario here.

“The VAR didn’t interfere with either, didn’t recommend referee Chris Kavanagh going to the monitor – he should have done.

Where is [Matt] Donohue, the VAR, looking?

“Because there’s two offenses that both required a penalty kick decision; goalkeeper and Van Dijk, both guilty of offenses inside the penalty area.

Speaking to Grosvenor Sports, Winter - who spent nine years officiating in the Premier League - feels Van Dijk didn’t deserve to be punished.

“I honestly thought they just ran into each other,” Winter said

Clearly, it was an accidental collision between Muniz and Van Dijk, and the Liverpool captain surely can’t be punished for that.