'Quite clear': Enzo Maresca delivers surprise verdict on VAR controversy after Chelsea beat Fulham

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·30 de agosto de 2025

'Quite clear': Enzo Maresca delivers surprise verdict on VAR controversy after Chelsea beat Fulham

Blues boss believes officials got the big calls right in incident-packed west London derby, including ruling out Josh King’s goal

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Enzo Maresca has rejected claims that Chelsea got lucky with some controversial refereeing decisions during their eventful win over rivals Fulham.

The unbeaten Blues claimed west London derby bragging rights on Saturday lunchtime to go top of the early Premier League table, though the 2-0 victory appeared to come with a huge slice of good fortune.

Chelsea were firmly second best at Stamford Bridge before Fulham’s impressive teenage midfielder Josh King saw what would have been a memorable first goal in senior football ruled out for what was contentiously deemed a foul by Rodrigo Muniz on Trevoh Chalobah after referee Rob Jones was instructed by VAR to consult the pitchside monitor.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors thereafter, with in-form summer signing Joao Pedro expertly heading Chelsea in front from a corner in the ninth minute of first-half stoppage time after only eight had initially been added on.

The Blues later sealed a second successive win from the penalty spot through Enzo Fernandez after Ryan Sessegnon was penalised for handball following another lengthy VAR review that saw Jones again sent to the monitor.

While Fulham accepted that Sessegnon did indeed handle Chalobah’s cross, they felt the officials missed a handful of infringements that should have seen them awarded a free-kick in the build-up - including a potential handball by Joao Pedro.

While a seething Marco Silva described those decisions as “completely unbelievable”, opposite number Maresca believes they were all the right ones - despite the ruling out of King’s goal being widely criticised by pundits and fans alike.

Asked if he felt Chelsea had been lucky with those controversial calls, the Italian told TNT Sport: “I don't think so because the foul is a foul and the penalty is a penalty. For me, it's quite clear.

“If I had some doubt, I would say. But it's quite clear that the foul is a foul and the other one is simple.”

In his subsequent post-match press conference, Maresca was asked how he would have felt if those decisions had gone against his team.

“I just said, I review both actions,” he said. “From my point of view it's quite clear that the first one, one of their players kicked Trev and the second one is quite clear that it's handball.

“Now I can understand that from their point of view there can be no foul, but I think it's quite clear that it's a foul and then it's a penalty.”