Joe Cole slams VAR decision to rule out Josh King goal against Chelsea

Josh King thought he’d opened the scoring for Fulham against Chelsea (Credits: Shutterstock)

Joe Cole accused VAR of sanitising football after Josh King’s goal was controversially ruled out during Saturday’s west London derby between Chelsea and Fulham.

The Cottagers appeared to have taken the lead and capitalise on a bright start when teenager King latched onto Sander Berge’s through ball, twisted away from Tosin Adarabioyo and wrong-footed Robert Sanchez.

King, 18, celebrated gleefully after opening his Premier League account but joy turned to frustration and bemusement when referee Rob Jones was ordered to review the goal on the touchline monitor.

The match official was asked to review an incident earlier in the move which had seen Rodrigo Muniz win possession ahead of Trevoh Chalobah, but the Brazil striker had unwittingly stood on his opponent’s foot.

After a brief deliberation, Jones addressed the Stamford Bridge crowd and disallowed the goal, ruling that Muniz had committed a careless foul, much to the disdain of Cole.

‘To sanitise football like that the kid, the 18-year-old Fulham lad has run away to the halfway line celebrating after scoring his first goal in the Premier League,’ Cole said on TNT Sport.

‘To take it off him for that? Like I say, it’s not a tickling contest. I don’t like this nitpicking.

‘He stood on Chalobah’s ankle and there was contact, I can understand the rules of the game. It wasn’t a careless challenge, it was just two professional footballers going in for a challenge and there was a bit of contact.

‘I don’t like it in football when you’re chalking off goals for that. It makes it too santised.’