Thousands sign petition calling to ban Taylor from Chelsea matches

A petition calling for referee Anthony Taylor to be banned from officiating Chelsea matches has received thousands of signatures as the fallout from Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Tottenham continues.

Spurs twice fought back from falling behind, with both goals coming after contentious decisions.

The first, which saw Pierre Emile-Hojbjerg score from just outside the box came seconds after Thomas Tuchel believes Chelsea should have been awarded a free-kick following Rodrigo Bentancur’s challenge on Kai Havertz.

Even after that, Richarlison appeared to have been standing in an offside position and thereby blocking Edouard Mendy’s view of the Dane’s shot.

After Reece James had restored the home side’s lead, Harry Kane netted a last-gasp equaliser from a controversial second-attempt of a corner from Ivan Perisic. During the first, Cristian Romero appeared to pull Marc Cucurella’s hair in the box, though a foul was not given.

Over 83,000 people have signed the petition, which alleges: “Anthony Taylor has continued to make big decisions against Chelsea over the years in big matches.”

After the game, Tuchel said: “Maybe it would be better, maybe it would be better [if he didn’t referee Chelsea games].

“But honestly we also have VAR, to help make the right decisions. Since when can players have their hair pulled, since when is that? And if he does not see it I don’t blame him – I didn’t see it.

“But we have people at VAR who check this, and then you see it. And how can this not be a free-kick, and then a red card? How?

“This does not even have to do with the referee in this case. If he does not see something that’s why we have people to check if this is a decisive error or not.”

When told that some Chelsea fans feel Taylor has made a number of mistakes when officiating Chelsea matches, Tuchel suggested that his players have a similar opinion.

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He said: “I don’t think just some of the fans think that. I can assure you the whole dressing room of us, every single person, thinks that. I can’t understand how the first goal is not offside and I can’t understand when a player is pulled by their hair, the other player stays on the pitch.

“Pull someone else’s hair, stay on the pitch and attack the last corner. This is for me without any explanation and I don’t want to accept it. Both goals should not stand and it’s a fair result because we were brilliant, deserved to win. This is my point of view.”