Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has acknowledged Malo Gusto was fortunate to avoid a red card in the Blues’ 1-0 derby win over Fulham at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea claimed their third successive Premier League victory and moved up to eighth in the table with Saturday’s hard-fought home win, as Cole Palmer’s first-half penalty proved decisive.
However, Chelsea might have considered themselves lucky to avoid a sending-off 10 minutes before the goal, with Gusto only receiving a yellow card despite appearing to catch Willian’s ankle with a reckless challenge.
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Fulham boss Marco Silva said VAR Michael Salisbury made a “clear” mistake when failing to advise a pitchside review from referee Anthony Taylor, hitting out at a lack of consistency and claiming fourth official Simon Hooper agreed with his assessment of the tackle.
In his own post-match interview with TNT Sports, Pochettino acknowledged Chelsea had received red cards for similar incidents this season, saying: “Of course I understand. I respect [Silva’s] opinion.
“It was a difficult challenge for the referee and the VAR. We’ve already suffered sending-offs for actions like this.
“I accept and understand that it was maybe a red card. I don’t want to say too much because I’ve not seen all the angles. That is football though, sometimes it is for you and sometimes it isn’t.”
Palmer’s penalty took him to 12 goal involvements in 17 Premier League appearances for Chelsea (eight goals, four assists), and came just four days after he squandered three big chances in the Blues’ first-leg defeat to Middlesbrough in the EFL Cup semi-finals.
Effortless from the spot. ????#CFC | #CheFul pic.twitter.com/ojyS5yLC7U
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 13, 2024
Pochettino was pleased to see the 21-year-old bounce back from the disappointment of that game at the Riverside Stadium, saying: “We believe in him, even when he didn’t score with the three big chances in Middlesbrough.
“We believe in him and he has the quality to play. It is important for young guys to feel the support of the coaching staff, the club and their team-mates.
“It is the first season they are playing consistently every week and these kinds of ups and downs can happen. It is important to relay that confidence and belief.”
With Chelsea now within nine points of fourth-placed Arsenal in the Premier League table, Palmer stressed the importance of maintaining their momentum in the coming weeks.
“It’s crucial,” he told TNT Sports. “There aren’t many games in the league this month but we need to get points on the board because our position in the league is poor. We know we need to kick on.
“We know we’ve got talent in the changing room so we just need to put that on the pitch.
“We create chances, everybody knows that, but in some games we’re just lacking that pass in the crucial moment. We can improve on that and when we get that right, we’ll score a lot more goals.”
