Fulham’s Silva sees red over yellow card for Chelsea’s Gusto

Fulham coach Marco Silva decried a decision not to send off Chelsea’s Malo Gusto in the 1-0 defeat by their west London rivals on Saturday, and Chelsea’s Mauricio Pochettino could understand Silva’s frustration.

Referee Anthony Taylor showed Gusto a yellow card for his foul on former Chelsea winger Willian in the 38th minute, even though the France defender carried through after winning the ball and landed his boot on the Brazilian’s ankle.

“In the Premier League, in 10 moments like that one, nine have been a red card,” Silva told reporters.

The Portuguese coach said he thought it was a clear mistake by the VAR team not to advise Taylor to reconsider his decision.

Chelsea won the derby 1-0 after Cole Palmer coolly converted a penalty in the dying minutes of the first half after Fulham’s Issa Diop had brought down Chelsea’s Raheem Sterling.

Pochettino acknowledged Silva’s frustration.

“Of course, if I am put in his place I am going to tell you it’s a red card,” the Argentine told reporters.

He said a similar decision went against Gusto this season when he was shown a red card for a foul on Aston Villa’s Lucas Digne.

“I remember the game against Aston Villa, it was a red card and I didn’t complain about that, but today it was a yellow card,” Pochettino said.

The Chelsea coach said he was happy with his team’s performance — their third league win in a row — though he continued to lament their inability to turn long periods of dominance into goals.

“We should have scored another goal or two and killed the game,” Pochettino said.

Palmer sent Bernd Leno the wrong way with his spot kick in the dying moments of the first half after Raheem Sterling was brought down by Issa Diop’s trailing foot.

It was Palmer’s ninth league goal — two more than the Blues’ top scorer over the entirety of last season — since joining from Manchester City as a last-minute summer signing and quickly establishing himself as Chelsea’s most dangerous player.

He was criticised for missing several chances in Chelsea’s 1-0 League Cup semifinal first leg defeat against Middlesbrough in midweek.

“After the game I was disappointed like anyone would be missing that many chances,” Palmer told broadcaster TNT Sports.

“You have those games and I’ve put it behind me and scored.”

Fulham’s best chance for an equaliser fell to Raul Jimenez whose shot forced Djordje Petrovic into a one-handed save in the 73rd minute.

Petrovic had also denied Harry Wilson in the first half as the visitors tried to catch their hosts on the break.

Chelsea captain Conor Gallagher smacked the post with a shot from the outside his boot in the 83rd minute but the final statistics showed the Blues had only three shots on target all game, a reminder of their woes in front of goal.

Armando Broja, only recently back in the side after an injury in the previous campaign, powered a header from an Enzo Fernandez cross just wide of the post in the 21st minute but was largely snuffed out by Fulham’s defence.

With Nicolas Jackson on duty for Senegal at the Africa Cup of Nations and Christopher Nkunku injured again, Pochettino will need to find a way back to scoring in time for Middlesbrough’s visit for the second leg of the League Cup semifinal next week. —