Mark Clattenburg claims VAR went against their own rules during Chelsea vs Fulham

Many believe Chelsea got a little bit lucky when it came to the refereeing decisions during the West London derby, however Mark Clattenburg believes it was an example of VAR going against their own precedent.

Chelsea ran out 2-0 winners in the end against Fulham, although they started poorly and could have found themselves behind in the first half when 18-year-old Josh King found the net in style.

Marco Silva was left enraged when the goal was disallowed for a foul on Trevoh Chalobah in the build up, with his misery only being added to by goals from Joao Pedro and Enzo Fernandez that followed.

The Brazilian’s goal came after the eight minutes of injury time had been played after the first half, whereas some believe he had handballed the ball before they won a penalty just after half-time.

Mark Clattenberg says VAR went against their own rules during Chelsea vs Fulham

As pundits and coaches tended to all disagree with the first big decision, Clattenburg is also in that camp. He exclusively told The Chelsea Chronicle that VAR should not be getting involved in the issue due to it not being a clear and obvious error.

He said: “Fulham have had a goal disallowed for a foul in the build up. Trevoh Chalobah has gone for a tackle with Rodrigo Muniz who takes the ball but accidentally steps on the foot of Chalobah.

“I do not accept that this first of all is a foul as Muniz controls the ball and his foot then has to go to the ground for balance as Chalobah comes late into the challenge.

“Also this should not be a VAR intervention as this is not a clear error from the referee who was well placed to make the judgement. One week the VAR makes an intervention and the next it does not and all this does is creates more inconsistencies.”

Refereeing decisions going Chelsea’s way so far this season

For the third consecutive game, VAR has intervened to cancel a goal for Chelsea’s opponents at important moments of the match.

Eberechi Eze’s free-kick was disallowed when the Blues played Crystal Palace on the opening day of the campaign, with them in the end seeing that game end goalless.

Despite the dominant win in the end against West Ham, they could have gone 2-1 down if Niclas Fullkrug’s strike had stood in the first half.

Some will argue that all of these decisions were correct, however with the inconsistency shown by officials across the league this season, they will count themselves fortunate that they have all been given their way.