{"id":104137,"date":"2025-08-31T02:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-31T02:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/104137\/"},"modified":"2025-08-31T02:00:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-31T02:00:08","slug":"joao-pedro-and-fernandez-fire-chelsea-to-win-against-fulham-after-var-drama-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/104137\/","title":{"rendered":"Jo\u00e3o Pedro and Fern\u00e1ndez fire Chelsea to win against Fulham after VAR drama | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perhaps the biggest insult for the visitors was that the first half was still going on when Chelsea<\/a> finally broke through. They were into the ninth minute of added time when Jo\u00e3o Pedro leapt to make it 1-0 and the Fulham head coach, Marco Silva, began to make peace with the realisation that the footballing Gods were not on his side on an afternoon that offered further proof of how the introduction of technology has made the sport too pedantic, stop-start and open to being warped by blurred lines over subjective calls.<\/p>\n

This game completely changed when Josh King, Fulham\u2019s gifted 18-year-old midfielder, had a fine goal disallowed in the 21st minute. It is tiresome to have to talk about refereeing decisions but sometimes there is no other choice. The video assistant referee system has brought us to this point. We pore over minute details, hunting for infringements, desperately seeking reasons to chalk off goals. Yet there was no major appeal from Chelsea when King scored. Trevoh Chalobah was in a heap at the other end of the pitch after being caught by Rodrigo Muniz but most people saw a good breakaway goal from the visitors.<\/p>\n

Muniz had possession and was pirouetting away from Chalobah, who came in from behind to challenge the striker. The justification was a \u201ccareless challenge\u201d but how do you challenge when you already have the ball? In any case the bar is surely supposed to be higher for VAR interventions. Clear and obvious? The only thing beyond doubt here was Silva\u2019s rage. It stung that the lengthy check meant that there were eight added minutes at the end of the first half. Fulham cleared a corner in minute eight, only for play to go on. Silva argued that the whistle should have been blown for half-time before Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez delivered the next one for Jo\u00e3o Pedro\u2019s opener.<\/p>\n

Fulham, who remain winless in the league, are not enjoying the rub of the green. They were on the wrong side of some refereeing decisions against Manchester United last week<\/a>. Chelsea, by contrast, have had lucky escapes in their first two home games. They would have lost to Crystal Palace had Marc Gu\u00e9hi not been penalised for \u201cwall interference\u201d when Eberechi Eze scored a free-kick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As it is Chelsea have opened their campaign with seven points from three games. They look weary after their exertions at the Club World Cup<\/a> but Enzo Maresca, who hinted that the possibility of a long lay-off for Liam Delap may force him into the market for another forward, was pleased with his side\u2019s resilience. They survived Delap departing with an early hamstring injury and fought for the victory. Jo\u00e3o Pedro\u2019s fifth goal for the club lifted the tension before another interminable VAR review at the start of the second half concluded with Fern\u00e1ndez making it 2-0 from the penalty spot.<\/p>\n

It was a strange occasion. Away from the refereeing, there was also the odd sight of Fern\u00e1ndez responding to his assist for Jo\u00e3o Pedro by shushing the home fans before ripping off the captain\u2019s armband and appearing to throw it at Chelsea\u2019s fitness coach, Marcos \u00c1lvarez. Andrey Santos, a direct competitor for Fern\u00e1ndez, had been sent out to warm up before the goal. \u201cEnzo is a Club World Cup winner, a World Cup winner,\u201d Maresca said. \u201cWhen he is not good enough, he can recognise it. In the first half he was not good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fulham\u2019s Josh King (right) celebrates scoring a goal that was later disallowed for a clash involving Rodrigo Muniz (centre). Photograph: Hannah McKay\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Chelsea had started the day with a flurry of transfer activity, announcing Christopher Nkunku\u2019s move to Milan and agreeing to send Nicolas Jackson on loan to Bayern Munich<\/a>. Life moves quickly in these parts. By lunchtime there were jokes about Chelsea rushing Jackson back from Germany to fill in up front. They became a reality within two hours of the final whistle, with Chelsea seeking to cancel the loan move.<\/p>\n

Already deprived of the ingenuity of Cole Palmer, there was further concern for Maresca when Delap went off after 14 minutes. A compressed pre-season is having an impact. Levi Colwill is out and Mois\u00e9s Caicedo is not at top speed.<\/p>\n

Chelsea are fighting off fatigue. They adjusted without Palmer, Jackson\u2019s replacements starting together again, Jo\u00e3o Pedro and Delap combining through the middle. There was another opportunity for Est\u00eav\u00e3o Willian and the bright young things in attack made a confident start.<\/p>\n

Yet the mood changed when Delap hurtled down the left and pulled up with a hamstring injury. Tyrique George, who is expected to leave before the transfer window shuts, came on to play up front. Jamie Gittens, the \u00a348.5m summer signing from Borussia Dortmund, waited his turn. Alejandro Garnacho\u2019s arrival<\/a> from Manchester United is a good thing; Chelsea suddenly look short of bodies in attack.<\/p>\n

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Maresca was not happy with their level during the first half. The action was scrappy but King\u2019s movement and footwork caught the eye at the tip of Fulham\u2019s midfield. The youngster looks like he belongs. There was conviction when he received Sander Berge\u2019s pass, sped away from Tosin Adarabioyo, cut past the former Fulham defender and beat Robert S\u00e1nchez with a low finish.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideChelsea 2-0 Fulham key statsShow\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2022 Chelsea have won their last six Premier League games kicking off at 12:30 on a Saturday, while Fulham have lost their last five, without scoring a single goal.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Fulham became the sixth side to face a penalty in each of their first three\u00a0Premier League games in a season, and were the first team to do so since Newcastle in 2021-22.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Timed at 53:56, Chelsea\u2019s opener from Jo\u00e3o Pedro (pictured) was the latest first-half goal on record (since 2006-07) in a Premier League game. Opta<\/p>\n

Photograph: John Sibley\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

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Fulham\u2019s joy was short-lived. Michael Salisbury, the man in Stockley Park, told the referee, Rob Jones, to check the pitchside monitor. Silva erupted. He smirked and shook his head. The travelling fans howled when they saw a replay of Muniz\u2019s challenge. Chelsea were still off the pace, though. Caicedo denied Timothy Castagne after more good work from King.<\/p>\n

Gradually, Chelsea built some momentum. George went close as half-time approached. Fern\u00e1ndez delivered a corner and Jo\u00e3o Pedro rose to head home. Fulham screamed daylight robbery. Their indignation grew when Ryan Sessegnon lifted his arms to block Chalobah\u2019s cross in the 50th minute. It was a clear handball. Another long check was required to rule out a foul by Jo\u00e3o Pedro but the penalty was given and a much happier Fern\u00e1ndez made it 2-0. It was not Fulham\u2019s day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perhaps the biggest insult for the visitors was that the first half was still going on when Chelsea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":104138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-104137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}