Official Michael Salisbury was dropped for Sunday’s Premier League game between Liverpool and Arsenal after Professional Game Match Officials Limited said it was a mistake for the video assistant referee to disallow Fulham’s opening goal at Chelseaon Saturday.
Josh King scored 22 minutes into the game only for it to be chalked off following a VAR intervention for a foul by Rodrigo Muniz in the build-up.
Muniz was deemed to have stepped on the foot of Chelsea centre-back Trevoh Chalobah while trying to turn him near the halfway line.
“After review, Fulham Number 9 commits a careless challenge, stands on the foot of the Chelsea defender, therefore we disallow the goal and we restart with a Chelsea free-kick,” referee Robert Jones told the Stamford Bridge crowd.
To make matters worse for Fulham, Chelsea’s opening goal in their 2-0 victory came nine minutes into eight minutes stoppage time at the end of the first half.
Referees chief Howard Webb has spoken to Fulham and declared the decision was an error.
He said the decision to rule out the goal did not reach the high bar of a VAR intervention as it was not a clear and obvious error by the referee and should have been a ‘referees’ call’ instead.
As a result, referees’ body PGMOL has replaced Salisbury with John Brooks for the Sunday’s match at Anfield.
Fulham manager Marco Silva was furious with the officials after the defeat, describing the decision to disallow the goal as “unbelievable”.
“How you disallow a goal like that is unbelievable,” Silva told TNT Sports after the game, which left Fulham winless after three Premier League matches.
“We have meetings with referees and people in charge, we all want to win. VAR is not here to re-referee the game.
“I would prefer not to say something more because I would be punished. I want to be on the touchline next week to help my team, I don’t want to be fined.
“But it has been a difficult start to the season with some decisions.”
It was the second Premier League home game in a row that Chelsea have benefited from a VAR intervention, after Eberechi Eze’s free-kick in a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace was disallowed on the opening weekend because Marc Guehi was deemed to have interfered with the wall.
Burnley boss Scott Parker said the use of VAR was threatening to turn football into “the most sterile game there is” after his side lost to a controversial late penalty at Manchester United.
Ruben Amorim’s team were awarded a penalty deep into second-half stoppage time when Jaidon Anthony was penalised for grabbing Amad Diallo’s shirt inside the area.
Referee Sam Barrott initially waved play on, but after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor he awarded the spot-kick and Bruno Fernandes held his nerve to earn the hosts a 3-2 victory.
“It’s the way the game has gone – quadruple checking everything every minute,” Parker told BBC Match of the Day.
“On the field, the referee didn’t give the foul, then we’ve re-reffed it. It’s not the ref, it’s a fella 200-odd miles away in a box.”
By BBC Sports
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