VAR decisions left the match in question, Chelsea, in spite of that, scored a two-goal victory over Fulham, a win they might be reluctant to acknowledge not only by themselves but also by Fulham manager Marco Silva.Josh King got Fulham a goal that was fitting for them to take the lead in the 21st minute. But, the celebrations were short-lived after a lengthy VAR review. The video assistant referee directed the on-field official to examine a “careless challenge” by Rodrigo Muniz on Trevoh Chalobah. A goal was controversially disallowed despite what seemed to be minimal contact caused by the challenge, a decision that left both the Fulham players and manager angry.
The feeling that the harder they tried to get their point across the more they, Chelsea, scored their first goal in the ninth minute of first-half stoppage time, later than the eight minutes they initially allocated was the next thing after the disappointment of the disallowed goal. From an Enzo Fernandez corner, João Pedro’s header just before the break gave Chelsea the lead, a totally unexpected result considering the game so far.
Moreover, the second half also saw another controversial VAR call with another delay before the penalty was given. The decision for handball by Ryan Sessegnon after the review that also found no foul and no handball on a Chelsea player in the build-up, was the basis for the penalty.
Enzo Fernandez scored from the spot to assure a victory that seemed outrageous to Silva’s side who had put on a good performance throughout the match. As the main moments of the match, where the VAR calls had a great impact and were highly debatable, the final scoreline does not seem to tell the story of the play.
