Premier League forced to release two Man United VAR statements in late Chelsea referee drama

It wasn't until the final 20 minutes of Manchester United's low-quality 1-1 draw with Chelsea that referee Rob Jones really became too much of a talking point. Before Rob Sanchez clawed away at Rasmus Hojlund's ankles, very little had really happened.

Chelsea complained with minor levels of anger after Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill weren't awarded first-half penalties for incidents with Manuel Ugarte and Lisandro Martinez, but even then the protests didn't go much further than initial shouts. United themselves felt Fofana might have fouled Alejandro Garnacho as he went to cross.

Nothing was referred to a big VAR review, though, and hardly anything cost the game much time. It was a reflection of an opening 45 minutes which demonstrated the weaknesses of both sides.

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With under half an hour left, Jones had little choice but to point to the spot after Hojlund delicately took down a long ball and tried to round Sanchez. Heading away from goal, the Chelsea goalkeeper still chose to try and grab the ball. He missed, Hojlund went down, and a penalty was awarded.

Sanchez was up in arms but VAR, looked after by Michael Salisbury and Nick Hopton at Stockley Park, agreed with Jones' call to give Ruud van Nistelrooy's side a prime opportunity to take the lead. Explaining the call via the official Match Centre X (formerly Twitter) account, reasoning was made public by the Premier League.

"The referee awarded a penalty for a foul by Sanchez on Hojlund," it reads. "The VAR checked and confirmed the referee's call." Nice and simple. Bruno Fernandes scored.

Chelsea hit back shortly after and the game threatened to spark into more of the frenzied occasion that had been expected. The standards needed to hit that sort of threshold were missing for most players, though, and it wasn't until Martinez's late, frustrated, tackle on Cole Palmer, that things did boil over in the way United vs Chelsea games have in the past.

The United defender was chipped by Palmer in the centre of the pitch as he looked to launch a counter-attack, left spinning and kicking a boot out. Martinez connected with Palmer high up on the Chelsea star's leg.

"As a professional, I think that one where you leave your studs, you know you’re not getting the ball and you go in knee-high," Gary Neville said on co-commentary duty. "To be fair you’re asking for a red card."

Salisbury didn't agree, and despite a VAR check, no further action was taken. "I think he's lucky," continued Neville. "I think when you go knee-high and the ball’s gone, with studs, I’m not quite sure what sort of interpretation it is but I think that is a red."

Match Centre added some clarity to the incident: "The referee issued a yellow card to Martinez for a challenge on Palmer. VAR checked for a potential red card and confirmed the referee’s call of no red card, deeming that it was a reckless challenge."

Former referee Mike Dean concurred. "He’s come down, he’s just caught the end of his knee with his studs," the ex-official said. "There’s not a lot of force in it, it’s more of a glancing blow down across his knee rather than endangering the safety of an opponent."

Chelsea players reacted strongly to the challenge, confronting Martinez and Jones. It was ultimately a rare flashpoint in a game that left much to be desired with not even VAR causing too much controversy. Had the game not been into stoppage time then perhaps the call to let Martinez stay on the field would have caused more uproar.