Thiago Silva responds as Carlos Vinicius avoids VAR punishment for Chelsea vs Fulham karate chop | OneFootball

Highlights

It's been a pretty tricky start to the season for Chelsea having lost three times in the Premier League before September had even finished. With that in mind, fans might have been fearing the worst when the Blues made the short trip to take on West London opponents Fulham on Monday night.

Marco Silva and co came into the game three points ahead of their local rivals and after finishing above Chelsea last season for the first time since 1983, the Cottagers would have been feeling quietly optimistic about their chances of picking up a win – especially on home turf. However, things did not quite play out as many would have expected.

Chelsea beat West London rivals Fulham 2-0

Indeed, having failed to score in his previous 23 appearances for the club, Mykhaylo Mudryk chose the perfect time to break his duck as he controlled Levi Colwill's ball superbly on his chest before slotting past Bernd Leno to make it 1-0. Just 82 seconds later, things went from bad to worse for Fulham as Tim Ream gave possession away to Cole Palmer in a dangerous position. The winger immediately played a pass through towards Armando Broja who made it 2-0 with a somewhat fortunate finish.

New manager Mauricio Pochettino might have been fearing for his job after a slow start to life at Stamford Bridge, but this derby win could prove to be the spark his players have been waiting for. With the squad made up of many young and inexperienced newcomers, they may well take great confidence from the impressive performance. Speaking to the press after the game, the Argentine manager certainly seemed delighted, telling the Evening Standard:

Carlos Vinicius hits Thiago Silva with 'karate chop'

Of course, as this was a derby match, it's no great surprise that there was a feisty tackle or tow during the clash at Craven Cottage. The most notable event came in the second half when, just before the hour mark, Fulham's Carlos Vinicius tried to win the ball from Thiago Silva. With the usual method of just sticking out a leg seemingly off the cards for some reason, the Fulham striker instead decided to deliver a sort of karate chop on the back of the Brazilian defender.

Referee Tim Robinson spotted the incident and correctly called up the foul. He decided it was just a yellow card and Vinicius was rather lucky that wasn't upgraded to a red after VAR reviewed it. Actor, comedian and writer Omid Djalili summed it up well on X, formerly Twitter, writing: "VAR check for common assault on Thiago Silva you could get arrested for on a Friday night in UK town centres. Check complete. Nothing given. "

Ultimately, that lack of a decision from VAR didn't cost Chelsea anything as they went on to win the game 2-0. And with the three points in the bag, Silva has now taken to Instagram to express his thoughts on the matter. Thankfully he doesn't seem hurt. What's more. he even seems to have been able to see the funny side of things and he wrote a message in Portuguese, which translates to: "Not even in UFC this punch is allowed. But it's calm."