Silva fumes at 'unbelievable' VAR decisions in Chelsea defeat

Fulham boss Marco Silva fumed at the "unbelievable" decisions made by VAR during their Premier League defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. 

Silva watched on as his side were beaten 2-0 by the Club World Cup champions, with a goal from Joao Pedro and an Enzo Fernandez penalty sealing the win for the Blues. 

However, the game did come with controversy, with Fulham believing they had taken the lead through Josh King, who drilled the ball past Robert Sanchez in the first half. 

But the goal was ruled out following a VAR review, with Rodrigo Muniz penalised for a stepping on Trevoh Chalobah after trying to turn away from the Chelsea defender. 

Another similar intervention followed shortly after the break, with Chelsea awarded a penalty after Chalobah's cross into the box struck the arm of Ryan Sessegnon, who was deemed to have made his body bigger. 

"I love football. Of course, I am here as the Fulham manager, but for someone who loves football as a manager, as a former football player, and sometimes as a fan, when I come and watch the game, I feel sad," Silva said. 

Having gone unbeaten in 10 consecutive Premier League London derbies between March and December 2024 (W5 D5), Fulham have since lost five of their last seven (W2).

Fulham became the sixth side in Premier League history to face a penalty in each of their first three games in a season, and the first team to do so since Newcastle United in 2021-22.

It is the second week the Cottagers have been involved in controversy surrounding VAR, having given away a penalty against Manchester United while also having a spot-kick appeal waved away for a similar reason. 

"It is clear. It is a special game for everybody. It's the best competition in the world with millions of people watching. I saw my team play outstanding football in the first half, playing football, not trying to be fake or going in the direction of coming here to park the bus. 

"We know the difference on the pitch from the financial point of view. They are on a different planet, but on the pitch we know what we are capable of, and I think we showed that.

"After what happened last week with us, all of that controversy in the game against Manchester United and all the decisions from VAR, people cannot understand. 

"One time it goes in one direction, and then the other it goes in a different direction. Similar things for the opposition and for us as well. We are here to learn and help our players understand things, but if there is no direction, it is impossible to feel that it will be balanced. 

"Performance-wise, outstanding first half. All the decisions by VAR and the referee made a massive impact on the game. And the second was not at the same level. 

"I told them we cannot control the decisions because they were against us. But how you disallow a goal like that is unbelievable. We have meetings with the people in charge and one of the main things is that VAR is not here to referee the game. 

"It is to help see things clearer. There was not something unbelievable to rule out the goal. I prefer not to talk about it any more because I will be punished, and I want to be on the bench on the next game. I don't want to be fine. I want to help my players."

For Chelsea, meanwhile, it was another impressive showing for summer signing Joao Pedro, who got the scoring underway with a header from a corner in first-half stoppage time.

Timed at 53:56, Joao Pedro's opener was Chelsea's latest first-half goal on record (since 2006-07) in a Premier League game. Each of the Brazilian's last 13 league goals have either put his side ahead (nine) or drawn them level (four).

He has now had a hand in seven goals across his five starts for Chelsea in all competitions (five goals, two assists), becoming the first player to net five or more goals in his first five starts for the club since Tammy Abraham in 2019.

"I am very happy, but I think I need to keep working hard to help this team," Joao Pedro said. "I need to improve every day to keep what I am doing.

"Now is a break and I go to the Brazil squad. I need to keep working hard.

But the forward acknowledged the difficulties his team were under against Fulham, who more than played their part in the opening exchanges. 

"The gaffer told us Fulham were a good team. If we won the first and second balls, we had a good chance to win the game," Joao Pedro added. 

"We didn't start very well, but we scored and had half-time to organise the team. When I scored, the team had more time to organise and then go to half-time."

But it was not all smiles for Chelsea, who were forced into an early change after Liam Delap appeared to injure his hamstring when chasing a ball in behind. 

"Liam Delap is expected to be out for six to eight weeks because of this type of injury," Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca confirmed.