Joao Pedro elevates Chelsea past Fulham but VAR farce prompts vital question | OneFootball

A comfortable win for Chelsea in the end over London rivals Fulham, but the jarring feeling from yet another Premier League game was the influence of VAR.

At each painstaking moment, a referee blows his whistle and signals his intent to use a pitchside monitor, a little bit of enthusiasm dies inside each supporter.

And yet again, here at Stamford Bridge, the joy and delight of 18-year-old academy product Joshua King, seconds after putting his club in front against their bitter rivals, was extinguished.

King had beautifully dispatched the ball beyond Robert Sanchez and into the corner, displaying immense composure to turn Tosin Adarabioyo inside out after Sander Berge’s exquisite throughball.

But this fiery first half soon ignited after VAR decided to examine Rodrigo Muniz’s role in the build-up, prematurely halting the wild celebrations in the Shed End from the away fans. The Brazilian had controlled the ball, spinning and landing on Trevoh Chalobah’s foot.

Referee Robert Jones, after VAR Michael Salisbury’s advice, concluded that Muniz was at fault, despite possessing the ball and watching Chalobah come from behind. Enzo Maresca maintained it was “quite clear”. Marco Silva disagreed.

“For somebody that loves football, I’m here as a Fulham manager, but I feel sad, really,” Silva said. “It’s clear, special game and the best competition in the world, millions watching on TV.

“How you disallow a goal like that, it’s unbelievable, VAR is not here to re-referee the game, for us and the world it was unbelievable. I prefer not to say more because I will be punished. It’s difficult for us, this type of decision.

“Eight minutes of extra-time, I accept, but eight minutes, I would like the chance to have a corner, but after the second corner, it’s already nine minutes. The game didn’t stop one time, I saw all of the eight minutes. It should stop after the first corner, yes we should defend better.”

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Referee Robert Jones checks the VAR screen (Getty Images)

The Portuguese boss was left dumbfounded and quickly exploded in the vicinity of the assistant referee, with the rest of the Fulham bench left aghast at their perceived injustice.

“One of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen from VAR,” concluded former Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder on BBC 5 Live.

It overshadowed a smart, diligent Fulham away performance, too, with chances created in addition to their organised defence. Joachim Andersen guided a shot wide from inside the box after combining with Timothy Castagne.

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Referee Robert Jones speaks to the players before disallowing Fulham’s Josh King goal (Action Images via Reuters)

There was gorgeous build-up play on the stroke of half-time to slip King in behind, and the teenager’s clever reverse ball found Castagne in on goal. But just as the Belgian’s eyes lit up, Moises Caicedo delivered a desperate, lunging tackle to superbly clear the danger.

And moments later, Fulham’s misery was compounded, with Joao Pedro glancing a header from Enzo Fernandez’s whipped delivery to break the deadlock.

Fulham and their supporters were irate, and the feeling was underlined soon after the restart.

VAR again made a crucial intervention after Chalobah’s low, swinging cross from the edge of the area was blocked by a spinning Ryan Sessegnon. The Fulham left-back’s elbow was away from his body and it felt like another harsh judgement on the visitors.

It soon became apparent that there were multiple elements to this passage of play that VAR was eager to scrutinise. Fans have become accustomed to every element of the passage of play being forensically studied, and its effect was to dim the noise and atmosphere to leave widespread confusion.

Caicedo’s touch to intercept the ball left Alex Iwobi limping away, then Joao Pedro’s involvement was studied. He appeared to flick the ball with his hand inside the box and a nudge on Andersen also threatened to dash home fans’ hopes of a penalty.

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Chelsea’s Joao Pedro celebrates scoring their first goal (Action Images via Reuters)

But Jones sided with the hosts once more and Fernandez drilled the ball down the middle to double the lead and clinch precious breathing room.

“The penalty, yes, it’s hand ball,” an honest Silva said. “Definitely, but from that moment, two or three faults from ourselves. Our players went to the screen, they should not, but they saw stamp on Alex [Iwobi], hand ball from Joao Pedro.

“They found something unbelievable, but the stamp from Rodrigo [Muniz], the same people didn’t see it for Alex. It’s difficult to understand."

Chelsea will not care this time, at least, but these extended attempts at reversing decisions on the field continue to leave supporters deflated. The Premier League might ponder whether the system removes some of the joy from its evidently compelling product. And would the occasional mistake from an official be a worthwhile sacrifice to protect the league’s rhythm?

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Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez celebrates scoring their second goal (Reuters)

The game naturally opened up as Fulham chased for a route back into the game. Estevao Willian, in again for the injured Cole Palmer, profited with a joyous run on the counter-attack to leave Calvin Bassey scrambling, only for his dragged effort to be stopped low down by Bernd Leno.

While Joao Pedro thrived as a No 9, darting back to his own goal before spinning Andersen to open up space and send a blur of Blue beyond him.

The Brazilian then went beyond, gathering a Chalobah ball arrowed in behind, but just as the 23-year-old rounded Leno, the German’s outstretched glove diverted the ball enough to keep the game alive.

Chelsea’s No 20 is the only striker at Maresca’s disposal for the foreseeable future, after Liam Delap limped off with a hamstring injury, ruling him out for at least six weeks. While Nicolas Jackson is set for Bayern Munich and Christopher Nkunku has joined AC Milan. The former Brighton striker was inches away from connecting inside the six-yard box to grab a brace, only for Pedro Neto’s cross to spiral just wide of the back post.

And Joao Pedro’s block on the line, to deny Andersen’s header in the 92nd minute, with another eight minutes added as a consequence of VAR’s growing influence on the game, secured his player of the match status.

But this game was not about Chelsea’s growing title aspirations; it was yet another reminder of VAR’s influence on English football.