The Blues got their revenge over Leicester by beating them in the Premier League. However, the victory was marred by controversy early on in the match, which saw Chelsea denied a spot-kick. Head coach Thomas Tuchel slammed the technology subsequently in his post-match words.
Chelsea were still hurting from Saturday’s FA Cup final defeat to Leicester City when the Foxes came to town. Their second match in four days pitted the two sides in the Premier League, with the ramifications of the result potentially long-lasting.
Both teams were targeting the third spot – Leicester to consolidate their position in the table while Chelsea to steal it off their opponents. The Blues emerged victorious on the night, exacting revenge for the cup defeat.
Despite the importance of the win, Tuchel was upset with his team’s overall performance and the refereeing display. The Video Assistant Referee gave key decisions against the Blues on the night – some clear-cut while some dubious – which enraged Tuchel.
“It’s a clear penalty,”
“These VAR decisions, honestly, they are horrible against us. It’s the third time in a row.
“We had a goal against Arsenal, we had a goal against Leicester. This has to stop of course but we were not worried at half-time.”
Tuchel said to Sky Sports.
The two incidents Tuchel highlighted in his post-match words took place over the previous week. Chelsea derived no joy out of VAR when Arsenal came for a visit last week. The Blues had a couple of penalty shouts turned down and a goal ruled out.
As if to compound their misery, VAR also gave a key decision against Chelsea in the FA Cup final. Ben Chilwell and Co thought they had equalized two minutes from time in the trophy clash against Leicester, only for the technology to flag a marginal offside in the build-up. Before that, VAR had found no problems with the Leicester City goal, which included a handball by Ayoze Perez in the build-up.
Chelsea fans could be forgiven for thinking that it wasn’t to be their way when Mike Dean and VAR decided not to award a penalty for a blatant foul on Werner in the first half of their latest match. However, they were jumping in joy at full-time, as their team had overcome a difficult Leicester side to win the game 2-1.
Werner did not score on the night – as has often been the case this season. However, the German was ever-present in the Chelsea attack and eventually did win a penalty in the second half, which was dispatched by Jorginho.
Antonio Rudiger had given Blues the lead right at the start of the second half. The centre-back bundled the ball in from a set-piece to punctuate 232 goal-less minutes for his team.
Chelsea dominated the match but nearly shot themselves in the foot late on. Mateo Kovacic – who had replaced N’Golo Kante in the first half – gave the ball away cheaply to Wilfred Ndidi and the midfielder played in Kelechi Ihenacho to pull one goal back.
Ayoze Perez then missed a glaring opportunity to level the score late on. The Spaniard had the ball laid for him on a plate, but he somehow blasted his shot high and wide from a position of promise. A scuffle then broke out between the two teams, leading to the match lasting 98 minutes. Nevertheless, Chelsea held on to claim all three points and overtake Leicester City in third.
