A FURIOUS Marco Silva felt Newcastle United defender Dan Burn should have been sent off for a tug on Andreas Pereira that went completely unpunished during Fulham’s 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park.

Fulham’s players were incensed that play was allowed to continue when Burn pulled Pereira back in the penalty area to prevent the Brazilian from being able to get a shot away.

While the incident was checked by VAR, it was only when a subsequent incident involving Kieran Trippier and Bobby Decordova-Reid was spotted that referee Robert Jones was instructed to check his pitch-side monitor.

Jones awarded a penalty for Trippier’s foul, but while Aleksandar Mitrovic’s spot-kick was subsequently ruled out for a double contact, Silva feels the game would have been different had Burn been punished and issued with a red card.

“It is clear,” said the Fulham boss. “The rules are clear. It is a clear penalty and a red card. We can win, we can lose in the same way, but the game would be completely different if you play the game with ten players.

“I think you all agree with me. Ten will be completely different from that moment. They have to play from that moment with ten players.

“It is clear it is not the best performance from the referee, but it can happen. You can have a bad performance. It is more difficult for us to understand with the VAR, with a screen in front of him, how he cannot see that first penalty and the red card.

“I don’t need to see the replay, one image is enough, clear penalty, clear red card and the game will be completely different.”

Silva refused to blame Mitrovic for the slip that resulted in his penalty being disallowed, but with the former Newcastle striker now having missed three spot-kicks in a row, the Fulham boss admits he might have to reassess his side’s penalty plans.

Eddie Howe felt Burn had probably conceded a penalty when he watched the defender’s tug on Pereira in real time, but he did not think the Trippier challenge that was eventually penalised merited the award of a spot-kick.

“I can give you my opinion live as in what I saw,” he said. “I haven't seen any VAR replays or slow motions. I thought the first one in my gut feel could have been a penalty - I didn't feel the second one was. I'm told that might be the other way round, but that is what I saw."