Tottenham Hotspur were defeated 4-3 by Chelsea in their London Derby at the weekend in the Premier League as Ange Postecoglou’s misery was compounded on home soil. To make matters worse, Cristian Romero has also suffered a fresh setback and will miss the next six weeks of action with Spurs playing nearly once in three days in that period.
As far as the Chelsea game was concerned, the referee Anthony Taylor’s performance was under the spotlight once again. He awarded two penalties to the Blues – though both of them seemed fair decisions – as Cole Palmer converted each of them to secure the win. There was another incident, which many debated should have seen Moises Caicedo receive a red card.
The former Brighton midfielder challenged Pape Mata Sarr in the middle of park and received just a yellow card. A VAR check did occur as the [Premier League’s official website shared the audio](https://www.premierleague.com/video/single/4193388?FOOTBALL_CLUBS=21,4) of the officials conversing. Those sitting in front of the monitor advised the on-field ref that they was not ‘any evidence of serious foul play’.
Pape Matar Sarr was subject to a dangerous tackle by Moises Caicedo.
It is crucial to note that while VAR checks occur more quite frequently, the job of the people sitting behind the computer is to only overrule a decision that may be deemed as a ‘clear and obvious’ error. In this case, the foul play was subjective as Caicedo made a genuine attempt to play the ball while there was a bit of involvement for Romeo Lavia too.
Postecoglou, as he usually does, gave a very diplomatic answer when asked about the play and a potential red card, although he said that in his opinion, a few decisions went against the Lilywhites. In hindsight, the result of the match would have been in Spurs’ favour if their opponents were down to 10 men although not much can be seen about a challenge that VAR did not see much fault in.
The best Tottenham can do is look after their own form, which will be put to the test in the Premier League over the coming weekend against Southampton after the team’s midweek trip to Rangers in the Europa League.