Chelsea stumbled to their five Premier League defeat of the season at West Ham on Saturday, and the pressure got to Blues boss Jose Mourinho who was sent off for protesting three key decisions that went against his side and changed the complexion of the match.
The first incident that ruffled the Blues’ feathers was when they thought Kurt Zouma had equalised in the 34th minute, although on this occasion it was goalline technology that determined the outcome, not the referee. The French centre-back’s header looked for all the world like it had cancelled out Mauro Zárate’s opener, but Manuel Lanzini hooked it away just in the nick of time, before the whole ball could cross the line. It is difficult to argue with video technology when it is clear that not all the ball was over the line. But it was extremely close and easy to see why the decision left Mourinho frustrated,
The second turning point came seven minutes later and this time Mourinho had grounds for complaint. Chelsea were denied an equaliser when Cesc Fàbregas drilled home from Willian’s slide-rule through ball, only for the linesman to incorrectly raise his flag for offside.
On the stroke of half-time, Nemanja Matic capped a first half to forget for the Premier League champions when he was shown a second yellow card in less than ten minutes. The Serbian midfielder could have no gripes about either booking, but the sending-off seemingly pushed Mourinho over the edge and the coach was forced to watch the second period from the stands after confronting the referee during the break.
So three decisions that Mou feels that should have gone Chelsea’s way but did not. I think he has grounds to complain about the Fabregas goal, but the other two were correct calls.
What did you think of the decisions?
