‘What abject nonsense’ – Ex-refs chief enraged by Chelsea missed decision vs Brighton
Chelsea evaded conceding another penalty against Brighton which has left Keith Hackett perplexed by match officials’ ignorance.
That is according to former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official, Keith Hackett, who exclusively told Football Insider that the referee and VAR missed an obvious call at Stamford Bridge.
Sources told Football Insider that Chelsea and Man United are both chasing Kenan Yildiz who was likely even more put off joining either team based on their performances.
The Blues fell 3-1 with Trevoh Chalobah being sent off which is far from ideal with Wesley Fofana out injured for Enzo Maresca.
Despite Tyrique George’s heroics for Chelsea in the EFL Cup on 23 September, he didn’t feature as his side crumbled to the Seagulls.
Keith Hackett lashes out at PGMOL justification for missed Malo Gusto call
In the 87th minute with the score 1-1, Fabian Hurzeler’s side were raising their game to exploit their one man advantage.
A ball was crossed into the box by Ferdi Kadioglu which found its way to Yankuba Minteh before an intervention from Gusto.
The Frenchman appeared to connect with the Gambian’s head yet VAR checked and confirmed that there was no need for the on-field decision to be reviewed.
Speaking to Football Insider exclusively, ex-PGMOL chief Hackett was disgusted by the missed call and judged the integrity of the match officials.
He said: “There is clear contact the player has endangered the safety of his opponent. It is difficult to see how the match officials could get this so wrong.”
The former FIFA referee then responded to a Premier League Match Centre post on X (27 September) that read: “The referee’s call of no penalty was checked and confirmed by VAR – with it deemed there was no conclusive evidence that Gusto made any contact with Minteh.”
Hackett was in complete shock and replied to the statement: “What abject nonsense in this statement.”
Chelsea fortunate to not lose by more
This looked to be a clear penalty as Gusto connected with Minteh’s head which completely endangered the opponent.
It is quite remarkable that VAR did not advise the referee to go to the monitor to at least come to his own decision in what would have been another penalty for Brighton.
Fortunately, this proved to be unimportant in the grand scheme of the result as the Seagulls raced to a 3-1 victory away from home.
The Blues have now suffered back to back defeats in the Premier League and will need to get back to winning ways immediately.