Howard Webb, England’s chief refereeing officer, has admitted that the decision to disallow Josh King’s goal for Fulham against Chelsea was a “misjudgment” by match officials. The goal was ruled out after a VAR review, with Rodrigo Muniz deemed to have fouled Trevoh Chalobah.
Speaking on the Match Officials Mic’d Up programme, Webb said the incident was not controversial but simply wrong. He stated that the guidance for VAR intervention was not followed properly, as officials became overly focused on contact without considering the full context.
Webb explained that Muniz, while in possession, turned naturally and placed his foot where Chalobah had moved his foot. He emphasised that the Premier League has established a high threshold for penalising contact and for VAR intervention, which was not met in this case.
The VAR official, Michael Salisbury, was subsequently stood down from his next scheduled match between Liverpool and Arsenal. The incident occurred during Saturday’s derby at Stamford Bridge, which ended in a 1-0 defeat for Fulham.
