Everton denied ‘nailed on’ penalty against Robert Sanchez at Chelsea – ex refs
Everton slipped to a 1-0 defeat in their clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but were seemingly unlucky not to be awarded a penalty in that game.
David Moyes’ side are now guaranteed to be safe from relegation this season, but will be frustrated by what was a third defeat in their last five league games.
Jordan Pickford was unhappy with his teammates as Nicolas Jackson put Chelsea 1-0 up with 27 minutes on the clock with a brilliant turn and finish.
Just over ten minutes after that though, Everton were unfortunate not to be given the chance to level things up from the spot.
Vitaliy Mykolenko taken out by Robert Sanchez
Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez has come under fire from Chelsea supporters for some costly errors this season, and looked nervous at the start of this game as well.
One such incident came in the 39th minute of the game, when the Spaniard came rushing to the edge of his area in an attempt to claim a cross.
However he would fail to hold the ball after colliding with Everton left-back Vitaliy Mykolenko at speed, which left both players on the ground for several moments.
In the end, referee Chris Kavanagh would award a free kick to Chelsea, although other former officials believe the decision should have gone the other way.
Responding to a question on X about whether that decision was the correct one, former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official Keith Hackett said: “Nailed on penalty kick. Poor officiating – yet again.”
Meanwhile, when asked for his thoughts on the incident, former Premier League referee Mark Halsey wrote: “You couldn’t argue if a penalty had been awarded.”
Everton to be disappointed by penalty claims
Football Insider Verdict
With safety already secured, the Toffees can have play without too much concern about these final games of the season.
Even so, they are not going to feel too good about these revelations, given they will wonder what might have been as they look to pick up some positive results to end the season on a high.
Indeed, Everton would push hard in search of an equaliser against Maresca’s side without breaking through, and getting the penalty they should have done could have changed that.
After that nervy start, Sanchez would go on to make some important saves for Chelsea to help them to that win.
Those will likely boost his confidence after a tough period, but he had conceded this penalty, it is unlikely he would have felt that lift as much, if at all.
With that in mind, the failure to award that penalty against him could turn out to be something of a sliding doors moment for Sanchez at Stamford Bridge.