So far, over 60,000 Chelsea supporters have signed petition seeking to ban Anthony Taylor from officiating the club’s matches.
There has been a huge controversy in Chelsea’s Premier League clash against Liverpool on Saturday evening which necessitated the petition.
Chelsea took the lead in the 22nd minute courtesy of Kai Havertz’s looping header. But Thomas Tuchel’s side was aggrieved when Reece James was sent off just before half-time.
James was positioned on the line when he blocked Sadio Mane’s goal-bound shot.
Nothing was given at the time but VAR instructed referee Anthony Taylor to take a look at the pitchside monitor.
After a few seconds of looking at the replay, Taylor awarded Liverpool a penalty and gave James his marching orders.
Chelsea players were extremely upset. The ball deflected off James’ knee and only then did he unintentionally handle the ball.
The decision sparked some fiery scenes on the pitch and led to Liverpool’s equaliser, a brilliantly dispatched spot-kick by Mo Salah.
Moreover, this is not the first time Anthony Taylor and Chelsea have been terrific hotspot as he alwassy made some divisive decisions against The Blues , with a Chelsea fan compiling an extensive thread on Twitter about the ‘wrong decisions’ Taylor has made.
These include his failure to spot a handball from Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez during the 2017 FA Cup Final and his sending off of Mateo Kovacic in the same fixture at Wembley last year.