In the Goodison Park derby earlier this season, Virgil van Dijk raked his studs down the shin of Amadou Onana but avoided a red card because, it was said, the force of his tackle was ultimately directed on the Everton midfielder's foot.
In the Premier League survival-clinching win over Crystal Palace, Jordan Ayew caught Anthony Gordon well above the ball in a shocking lunge that was deemed reckless - but not reckless enough to warrant a red card for the late tackle on the Everton attacker.
In the game before that Jarrad Branthwaite saw red when Everton had every right to argue his challenge on Ivan Toney was made irrelevant by an earlier pull on Richarlison's shirt in the Brentford box.
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Against Newcastle United VAR stepped in to hand Allan a red card when it was hard to see how the initial call to give him a yellow card was a clear and obvious error.
One day Everton may get a big VAR red card call in their favour. That was not to be at Fulham. This time Aleksander Mitrovic left Idrissa Gueye crumpled in a heap after he planted his studs on the ankle of the Everton midfielder. It was not a red card because the tackle apparently lacked intensity.
Frank Lampard was once again left furious. It is easy to see why. The 'tackle' came at a crucial time in an end-to-end half in which the timidity of his side's most recent away days was initially cast aside. That excitement disappeared - at both ends - in the second half but Everton at least stopped the rot away from home and added another useful point to the tally.
It could well have been different had the big decision of the game gone the other way. It was after just 25 minutes when Mitrovic left his mark on Gueye. To many it looked a clear sending off. Referee John Brooks deemed it worthy of just a yellow card but the Everton dugout looked to the Gods at Stockley Park - surely they would intervene? VAR did check the call. The tackle was considered low, from a short distance and so lacking in intensity and impact. Add that to the long list of contentious explanations for big calls against the Blues. Should it really require Gueye to have been seriously hurt for Mitrovic to have seen red?
The flashpoint came during a frenetic first half in which there were 19 shots, four on target for each side, and 11 corners. They say there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. For Everton, the constants are the frustration caused by VAR and the fact Jordan Pickford is England's best goalkeeper. It was his heroics that allowed Everton to maintain a foothold in this game.
First, the England number one produced a stunning reflex save to push over a shot by Willian, who dug the ball out of his feet and scooped it goalwards. From the corner that followed Mitrovic rose highest and aimed a bullet of a header towards the top corner. Pickford was equal to it, flying to his right to tip the ball over the bar. The saves came during a spell in which Fulham threatened to overwhelm the visitors, Pickford also punching clear from Harrison Reed and Dominic Calvert-Lewin heading clear a looping header directed towards the back post.
But unlike at Tottenham Hotspur or Newcastle United, awaydays in which Everton failed to muster a shot on target, Lampard's side was not toothless on opposition turf. Bernd Leno pushed clear a rasping Demarai Gray strike in the early minutes and Calvert-Lewin was just unable to divert goalwards a delicious Gray ball across the six yard box.
The chances continued to come after the decision to keep Fulham at full strength. Conor Coady had a volley saved by Leno, who also collected a header James Tarkowski may feel he could have done better with. The tempo of the first half faded in the second, as two sides eager for three points but perhaps content with a draw cancelled each other out. Lampard moved earlier than normal - handing Nathan Patterson his return from injury and looking to James Garner and then Dwight McNeil to find some magic. Calvert-Lewin had a goal correctly ruled out for offside and at the other end Coady, Tarkowski and Vitalii Mykolenko made vital blocks but neither side was capable of finding a cutting edge as a game that started so brightly petered out on the banks of the Thames.
Everton are making progress under Lampard but not at such a rate that they can overcome big decisions controversially going against them. And Lampard will come away from Craven Cottage with more frustrations than just VAR - the lack of intensity and creativity in the second half among them. But you could forgive him and his dressing room for having their thoughts on the way back to Merseyside dominated by another big decision going against them.
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