Furious Marco Silva slams 'unbelievable' VAR decision after controversial Chelsea win

Fulham manager Marco Silva hit out at "unbelievable" decision-making from the officials in his team's Premier League defeat to Chelsea. The Cottagers were on te wrong end of a number of contentious calls as they lost 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to remain winless in the league this season.

Silva's side thought they had the lead before half-time when Josh King raced through and finished confidently for what would have been his first Premier League goal. However, after a VAR check, referee Rob Jones ruled that Rodrigo Muniz had committed a foul earlier in the move.

Chelsea took the lead, with Joao Pedro heading home in the ninth minute of first-half stoppage-time after a minimum of eight minutes went up on the board. Silva waited for referee Jones at the break, with the official appearing to direct him down the tunnel for a conversation.

Early in the second half, things got worse for the visitors. Enzo Fernandez scored from the penalty spot after Ryan Sessegnon was penalised for handball - again after a VAR check - but some fans watching the game felt Joao Pedro was guilty of handball before Sessegnon's offence.

"For me it's unbelievable, really," SIlva said of the disallowed King goal when speaking to TNT Sports after the game. "And of course... you can talk about many things, I would prefer to say nothing more because I will be punished.

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"And I want to be on the bench in the next game, I don't want to pay fines, I want to help our players. But it has been difficult for us, this start of the season, with so many decisions that haven't come in the way they should."

It was the second game in a row in which Silva has been left frustrated by a VAR call. He questioned why there was no intervention to disallow Manchester United's goal at Craven Cottage last weekend for a foul, while this time the Portuguese was angered by the first half stoppage time whiel led to Chelsea's opener in addition to the VAR drama around the King goal that was chalked off.

"After the first corner it was already nine minutes [of stoppage time played]," Silva added. "They [Chelsea] had the first corner in the eighth minute - there's your moment, if it's for me, I'd like to see a corner. Eight minutes. They won the second corner, already nine minutes extra time.

"He [the referee] has to stop the game. It's by the rules, he has to stop the game. I'm not saying that it's my opinion - by the rules. I asked the referee, he told me 'because we lost time, I was speaking with a player'. I checked the eight minutes now, I checked all the eight minutes, the game didn't stop one second. What can I say to you? I'm the manager, I try to do my best with my players and my football club. Okay, Chelsea won the game and we move on.

He added: "I make mistakes, the ref can make mistakes, the Premier League is so intense, so tough, all that stuff. But when it's black or white it has to be black or white. We cannot see somthing that was not there."

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