Fulham manager Marco Silva was highly critical of the VAR decisions made during their 2-0 defeat to Chelsea. Silva felt Fulham were wrongly denied a goal and that Chelsea were awarded a soft penalty. Chelsea’s Joao Pedro scored and Liam Delap suffered an injury.
Fulham manager Marco Silva didn't hold back his frustration after witnessing what he described as "unbelievable" VAR decisions during his team's 2-0 Premier League defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The Cottagers felt hard done by as they saw a potential opening goal disallowed and conceded a controversial penalty, ultimately contributing to their downfall against the Blues.
The match, which Chelsea won courtesy of a goal from Joao Pedro and a penalty from Enzo Fernandez, was marred by contentious moments that left Silva seething on the sidelines. Fulham believed they had drawn first blood when Josh King found the net in the first half, only for VAR to intervene. The review resulted in Rodrigo Muniz being penalised for supposedly stepping on Trevoh Chalobah while attempting to evade the Chelsea defender.
Adding insult to injury, Chelsea were awarded a penalty shortly after the restart. A cross from Chalobah struck the arm of Ryan Sessegnon inside the penalty area, with the referee, aided by VAR, deeming that Sessegnon had made his body unnaturally bigger, leading to the spot-kick which Fernandez calmly converted.
Silva expressed his deep disappointment with the decisions. "I love football," he stated. "Of course, I am here as the Fulham manager, but for someone who loves football as a manager, as a former football player, and sometimes as a fan, when I come and watch the game, I feel sad." He lamented the impact of the VAR interventions on the match, suggesting they went against the spirit of the game.
Tough one to take. pic.twitter.com/sCAouHEX8g
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 30, 2025
Prior to this defeat, Fulham had enjoyed a strong run in London derbies, remaining unbeaten in 10 consecutive Premier League matches between March and December 2024, winning five and drawing five. However, their recent form in such fixtures has dipped, with five losses in their last seven (W2). Furthermore, Fulham's misfortune continued as they became only the sixth team in Premier League history to concede a penalty in each of their opening three games of a season, a feat last achieved by Newcastle United in 2021-22.
Silva also alluded to the previous week’s controversy, when Fulham had a penalty awarded against them versus Manchester United while also having a penalty appeal denied for a similar incident. "It is clear. It is a special game for everybody. It’s the best competition in the world with millions of people watching. I saw my team play outstanding football in the first half, playing football, not trying to be fake or going in the direction of coming here to park the bus." He continued, "We know the difference on the pitch from the financial point of view. They are on a different planet, but on the pitch, we know what we are capable of, and I think we showed that."
Silva expressed bewilderment over the inconsistency of VAR decisions. "After what happened last week with us, all of that controversy in the game against Manchester United and all the decisions from VAR, people cannot understand. One time it goes in one direction, and then the other it goes in a different direction. Similar things for the opposition and for us as well. We are here to learn and help our players understand things, but if there is no direction, it is impossible to feel that it will be balanced." He praised his team's first-half performance but felt the VAR decisions heavily impacted the game's outcome. "Performance-wise, outstanding first half. All the decisions by VAR and the referee made a massive impact on the game. And the second was not at the same level."
Silva emphasized that VAR should not be used to referee the game but rather to clarify obvious errors. "I told them we cannot control the decisions because they were against us. But how you disallow a goal like that is unbelievable. We have meetings with the people in charge and one of the main things is that VAR is not here to referee the game. It is to help see things clearer. There was not something unbelievable to rule out the goal. I prefer not to talk about it any more because I will be punished, and I want to be on the bench on the next game. I don’t want to be fine. I want to help my players."
Your moment will come, Josh. pic.twitter.com/azcuapFdVm
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 30, 2025
Chelsea's summer acquisition, Joao Pedro, continued to impress, opening the scoring with a header in first-half stoppage time. His goal, timed at 53:56, marked Chelsea’s latest first-half goal on record (since 2006-07) in a Premier League match. Notably, each of the Brazilian's last 13 league goals have either given his team the lead (nine) or equalized the score (four). Joao Pedro has been directly involved in seven goals across his initial five starts for Chelsea in all competitions (five goals, two assists), becoming the first player to achieve five or more goals in his first five starts for the club since Tammy Abraham in 2019.
"I am very happy, but I think I need to keep working hard to help this team," Joao Pedro stated. "I need to improve every day to keep what I am doing. Now is a break and I go to the Brazil squad. I need to keep working hard." He acknowledged the challenges posed by Fulham. "The gaffer told us Fulham were a good team. If we won the first and second balls, we had a good chance to win the game," Joao Pedro added. "We didn’t start very well, but we scored and had half-time to organise the team. When I scored, the team had more time to organise and then go to half-time."
However, Chelsea faced an early setback when Liam Delap sustained a hamstring injury while chasing a through ball. "Liam Delap is expected to be out for six to eight weeks because of this type of injury," Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca confirmed, adding to the Blues' injury concerns.