Chelsea will fear the Premier League’s latest announcement
Chelsea have lost back-to-back Premier League games and are looking to bounce back against Liverpool.
Chelsea have fallen victim to their own poor disciplinary after going down to 10-men in their last two matches.
Robert Sanchez was sent off against Manchester United (20 September) with Trevoh Chalobah also seeing red against Brighton last weekend (27 September).
And it doesn’t get any easier…
Anthony Taylor confirmed as Chelsea vs Liverpool referee
Enzo Maresca takes on Jose Mourinho in the Champions League before facing Arne Slot‘s Liverpool in the Premier League.
And that isn’t his only concern — he must do so with a referee in charge who hasn’t always made the right decisions.
The Premier League have confirmed Anthony Taylor as the referee in charge of Chelsea vs Liverpool on the weekend (4 October).
His assistants will be Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn with Farai Hallam on fourth official duties and Craig Pawson and Adrian Holmes operating VAR.
Since the start of the 2025-26 Premier League season, Taylor has been entrusted to officiate five matches, resulting in a total of 16 yellow cards being shown.
The 46-year-old has yet to show a red card — straight nor two yellows — and is awarding, on average, a penalty nearly every other game.
| Date | Match | Yellow Cards | Red Cards |
| 15 Aug | Liverpool vs Bournemouth | 3 | 0 |
| 24 Aug | Crystal Palace vs Nott’m Forest | 6 | 0 |
| 30 Aug | Sunderland vs Brentford | 5 | 0 |
| 14 Sept | Man City vs Man United | 0 | 0 |
| 20 Sept | Wolves vs Leeds | 2 | 0 |
Taylor has yet to manage a Chelsea fixture this season, and judging by one of his past performances, fans won’t be thrilled at the prospect of this weekend’s being his first.
Chelsea have history with Taylor
The 2022-23 campaign saw Taylor embroiled in huge controversy after he failed to spot an obvious red card.
Hosting rivals Spurs at Stamford Bridge during Game Week 2, Chelsea were 2-1 up thanks to goals from Kalidou Koulibaly and Reece James, but were cruelly denied after Harry Kane netted a 96th minute equaliser.
Many, including Mike Dean, who was on VAR duties that day, believe the goal should not have stood, though.
Cristian Romero pulled Marc Cucurella‘s hair during an on-field tussle. The incident, which should have seen the Argentine defender shown a red card, was not picked up by Taylor.
Dean failed to advise his colleague to review the footage after incorrectly deeming the incident not to be worthy of a red card. Kane then nodded in Spurs’ equaliser from a subsequent corner.
Speaking to the Daily Mail about the incident after the game, Dean admitted it was an officiating error which potentially cost the Blues all three points.
“For the second goal by Harry Kane, I asked referee Anthony Taylor to wait while I looked at the incident involving Tottenham’s Cristian Romero and Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella,” he said.
“I could not award a free-kick as VAR, but I could recommend to Taylor that he visit the referee review area to consider a possible red card. In the few seconds I had to study Romero pulling Cucurella’s hair, I didn’t deem it a violent act.”
Understandably angry, Chelsea fans launched a petition demanding Taylor doesn’t referee their games in future.
Their requests obviously fell on deaf ears with Taylor set to lead Chelsea and Liverpool out at Stamford Bridge this weekend.