Premier League: Referees are robbing the show, Chelsea wins 2-0 and cannot cover up the penalty storm

In the third round of the Premier League, Chelsea defeated Fulham 2-0 at home, a series of controversial decisions by referee Robert Jones became the focus of the game, seriously affecting the fairness and fluency of the game. On the evening of August 30, Chelsea struggled to score three points with two goals in set pieces by Joao Pedro (45th + 10th minute) and captain Enzo Fernandez (56th minute) at Stamford Bridge Stadium. However, behind these two goals, there were controversial referee penalty, which aroused strong dissatisfaction among the visitors' Fulham players and fans. In the 25th minute of the

game, Fulham launched a sharp counterattack, and young forward Joshua King successfully scored, igniting hope for away games. But after watching the VAR replay, referee Jones found that Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz fouled a Chelsea player before the attack was launched, so the penalty was invalid. This decision caused huge controversy - slow motion shows that Muniz touched the ball first, while the Chelsea player obviously took the initiative to stretch his feet in the confrontation, which was suspected of "creating a foul."

The stoppage time in the first half was 10 minutes, which also made Fulham coach Marcos Silva extremely dissatisfied. He pointed out angrily that he only had 8 minutes of stoppage time in the first half, but Chelsea was still awarded a corner kick in the 10th minute, and there was no obvious interruption in the process, which was obviously favorable to the home team. It was in this corner that Joao Pedro scored a header, opening the first record for Chelsea.

In the 56th minute of the second half, the controversy broke out again. Referee Jones awarded Fulham player a penalty kick in the penalty area and gave Chelsea a penalty. However, the playback shows that during the offense, Chelsea striker Joao Pedro also had obvious handball movements. Although the Premier League official explained that Pedro's handball was "unintentional", VAR did not intervene to overturn the penalty, and Jones finally insisted on the penalty decision. The penalty completely angered Fulham fans, and deafening boos sounded throughout the audience. What makes the visiting team even more difficult to accept is that Chelsea had at least two obvious fouls against Fulham players in the game, but neither was investigated by the referee or VAR.

Although Chelsea scored three points with two set-piece opportunities and temporarily topped the Premier League standings with a score of 7 points in three rounds, the value of this victory was greatly reduced by the referee's multiple controversial penalty decisions. Robert Jones's law enforcement performance undoubtedly became the most eye-catching but questioned "protagonist" in this game.