Fans fume at Man Utd fix with referee Anthony Taylor AND VARs Chris Kavanagh both born in Manchester amid Chelsea row

FANS were left fuming with referee Anthony Taylor and his VAR Chris Kavanagh after Chelsea’s defeat to Manchester United – with both officials born in Manchester.

Plenty took to Twitter to hit out at a number of key decisions that went the Red Devils’ way at Old Trafford

Harry Maguire was lucky to escape without a red card after seemingly kicking out at Michy Batshuayi right in front of the Chelsea bench as the two players tumbled.

Then in the second half, Kurt Zouma’s finish was ruled out by VAR after Cesar Azpilicueta was adjudged to have fouled Brandon Williams even though Fred actually pushed the Blues captain first.

Batshuayi was also penalised for a completely accidental handball as Mason Mount took a shot – although the new laws state a goal cannot be awarded if the ball touches an attacking player’s arm in the build up.

And finally, United escaped again as VAR ruled out a second Chelsea goal because Olivier Giroud’s foot was offside when he expertly headed in Mount’s cross from the right to frustrate the home crowd even further.

Referees must declare who they support and any allegiances they may have early in their career.

The PGMOL – who make the match official appointments for the Premier League – will therefore not allow a referee who supports a certain club or lives in that city to be involved with one of their matches.

But even then, some on social media were convinced of a conspiracy theory against Frank Lampard’s side.

@babuyagu wrote: “Manchester-born referee Anthony Taylor didnt think this was a red card offence by Maguire. Neither did Manchester-born Chris Kavanagh who was in charge of VAR.”

@ashsales22 said: “The referee and VAR official were both from Manchester. Says it all.”

@omeralvi_ added: “21′: VAR rules no red card for Harry Maguire. 56′: VAR rules out Zouma’s goal. 77′: VAR rules out Giroud’s goal. Anyone up for a guess where referee Anthony Taylor is from? Yes, thats right. Manchester.”

@alanfrancis09 typed: “Can someone please explain how you can have Anthony Taylor, born Wythenshaw, Manchester as referee and Chris Kavanagh, born Manchester on VAR officiating in a MANCHESTER UTD game?”

And @wrighty108 fumed: “Doesn’t help that both the on the field referee and VAR were born in Manchester surely that shouldn’t be allowed given the dubious nature of the non sending off and the disallowed first goal surely questions have to be asked.”

Lampard was also furious with some of the decisions during the game at Stamford Bridge – the Blues’ seventh home defeat of the season.

He raged: “Harry Maguire should have been sent off, that’s clear, and that obviously changes the game.

“Azpilicueta gets shoved so the goal should stand. Giroud was a toenail offside and that one I understand. That’s the rule now.

“I don’t get why they aren’t looking at the monitor. It should be used.”

Maguire, who made matters worse by powering home a brilliant header to add to Anthony Martial’s opener, claimed he did nothing wrong.

He said: “I know I caught him and I felt he was going to fall on me and my natural reaction was to straighten my leg to stop him. It wasn’t a kick out and there was no intent.

“I think it’s the right decision. I knew I’d caught him but that I had no intent to hurt him. It was just a natural reaction. I apologised to him and it was nice that the referee saw sense.”