Chelsea hosted Tottenham Hotspur in match day 2 of the Premier League 2022/23. The match ended in a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge. The game is already being dubbed the Battle of the Bridge II. It was a game of excessive physicality and controversy from the start to the finish. Chelsea dominated the game totally but controversial decisions by the referees led to a draw with their North London rivals.
Chelsea were the better team on the pitch by many leagues. They passed brilliantly, dominated possession, and controlled play all over the match. New signing Kalidou Koulibaly opened the scoring for Chelsea with a magnificent volley. However, an error by Jorghino in the 68th minute led to Bentacur equalizing the score. Then Raheem Sterling linked up magnificently with Reece James to put Chelsea in the lead. However, Tottenham equalized in the 96th minute to salvage a draw.
The Chelsea vs Tottenham game highlighted the inconsistencies in the decision-making of the English referees. Kai Havertz was denied a free kick for a clear foul by the officials just before the build-up of play of the first goal by Tottenham. Moreover, in the 95th minute, Hojberg pulled Marc Cucurella to the floor by dragging his hair which didn’t even warrant a booking of the Tottenham player. Thomas Tuchel, in his post-match conference, spoke up about the controversial decisions and the hair-pulling of Marc Cucurella:
“But honestly, we also have VAR to help make the right decisions. Since when can players be pulled at their hair? Since when is that? And if he does not see it, I don’t blame him. I didn’t see it, but we have people at VAR who check this and then you see it and then how can this not be a free-kick and how can it not be a red card? How?”
Chelsea players and manager think referee was biased against Chelsea
Referee Anthony Taylor was accused of bias against Chelsea on multiple occasions by the fans of the clubs. When asked about Anthony Taylor’s refereeing decisions, Thomas Tuchel said:
“I don’t think that just some of the fans think that: I can assure you that the whole dressing room of us, every person thinks that. You know the players, they know what’s going on when they are on the pitch. They know it.”
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