Chelsea overcame a goal deficit to defeat West Ham United 2-1 in a fiery London derby that was decided by a very contentious VAR intervention.
After Maxwel Cornet had an equaliser disallowed for an apparent foul by Jarrod Bowen on goalkeeper Edouard Mendy in the build-up, Kai Havertz scored what ultimately proved to be the game-winning goal in the 88th minute.
The Chelsea player had parried the ball away from Bowen’s feet and remained down as Cornet scored when the England forward was penalised for catching Mendy on the arm. Contact seems to be scarce.
After a dull first half, Michail Antonio gave the Hammers the lead by bundling in from close range after escaping penalty for a scuffle with Thiago Silva in which he appeared to grab the defender by the head and drag him to the ground.
For the visitors, Wesley Fofana made his Chelsea debut and Lucas Paqueta experienced his first taste of Premier League play. They confined the Blues to little opportunities until Mateo Kovacic and the ineffective Christian Pulisic were replaced by Ben Chilwell and Havertz.
Chilwell surprised everyone by scoring Chelsea’s opening goal, forcing the ball past Lukasz Fabianski’s legs from a tight angle.
Just two minutes later, Havertz scored Chelsea’s second goal from a cross from Chilwell, ending Cornet’s jubilation after he had earlier hit the post.
In terms of pure drama, it was undoubtedly a box-office ending, but, like a well-known dancer’s experimental passion project, it didn’t make much sense to the viewer.
It appears that the reason why West Ham’s equaliser was called back was that Bowen caught Mendy as he leaped over the downed Chelsea goalkeeper, who had put the ball meekly back out to Cornet after rookie Fofana botched a header. It was difficult to see whether Bowen just clipped Mendy’s arm with his lead studs, but he definitely made contact with his back foot. Mendy remained on the ground while Cornet launched a shot into the goal. As a result of Mendy’s actions, the goal was disallowed by VAR after referee Andy Madley watched the footage on the pitchside monitor.
“Today we were fortunate to receive a favourable VAR ruling, which in my opinion was the right call. In order to maintain the three points and turn the game around, “Thomas Tuchel spoke to BBC Sport after the game in somewhat more subdued tones than David Moyes.
The West Ham manager was furious, calling the judgement “a disgusting judgement, utterly nasty from one of the allegedly expert referees.” “It doesn’t say much about the VAR official who sent him over, however. It is an unbelievable decision against us.
“We believe that nothing we did contributed to us getting back to 2-2. I agree with a lot of the VAR ideas. Since he can’t reach to the next shot, I honestly believe the goalkeeper dives, pretending to be hurt. He did the same thing for the first goal as well. This referee manages to get it so wrong, it’s amazing.
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