Fulham vs Arsenal ref watch: Three decisions Anthony Taylor got horribly wrong
Anthony Taylor missed a couple of key incidents as Arsenal claimed an all-important victory against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
Taylor is one of Howard Webb’s most dependable referees, but that does not mean that the official has been without his faults so far in the 2025-26 campaign.
Mikel Arteta was expected to drop Leandro Trossard, but it was the Belgian who opened the scoring on Saturday, 18 October, much to the disappointment of Marco Silva after a strong first-half display.
Things could have been very different for the Cottagers had other decisions gone their way, but it was not to be as their London rivals claimed all three points to head back to the top of the Premier League table.
Lack of cautions for arguing with the referee
After Taylor stopped play for a head injury on Joshua King, multiple players, including Gabriel Magalhaes, screamed at the referee, clearly frustrated with the decision.
The Gunners were on the attack, and the young forward had clashed with his own teammate, but nonetheless, play needed to be stopped so treatment could be issued.
Had the referee been ruthless with his yellow cards, and because Bukayo Saka was the one wearing the captain’s armband, Gabriel should have gone into his notebook for his verbal encounter.
William Saliba avoids a blatant booking on Joshua King
It appeared certain that William Saliba was going to be cautioned for his role in attempting to stop one of the Cottagers’ free-flowing attacks, but nothing came of his challenge.
With King racing in behind, the Frenchman had a huge tug on the 18-year-old’s shirt before he offloaded the ball to Raul Jimenez, and it was clear as day just how much of an impact it had on the attack.
Although Fulham played on and eventually had a shot, which Harry Wilson sent over the crossbar, it was still disappointing not to see Saliba punished.
Anthony Taylor takes an age to decide against Arsenal penalty
While Taylor eventually came to the correct decision to disallow Arsenal‘s penalty after Kevin‘s tackle on Saka, it took far too long for that decision to be reached, even with VAR intervention.
The delay saw a giant ring of players form around the pitch-side monitor, another part of the incident that should have seen some sort of punishment, before relaying his decision to the supporters.
It’s a difficult one because the right decision was reached, but only after an extremely long delay. It should have only taken a few angles to see.