Premier League record broken in Bournemouth vs Chelsea as Anthony Taylor involved in new controversy
Chelsea and AFC Bournemouth have broken the record for the most yellow cards recorded in a single Premier League game.
Between the two sides, 14 yellow cards were dished out by referee Anthony Taylor. Eight of these bookings were dished out to the Blues as Wesley Fofana, Marc Cucurella, Robert Sanchez, Nicolas Jackson, Levi Colwill, Jadon Sancho, Renato Veiga and Joao Felix all received cautions.
Manager Enzo Maresca was also given a booking in what transpired to be an incident-prone evening. However, Taylor will find himself firmly under the spotlight for his refereeing with many supporters in agreement that the game was not an overly ill-tempered affair.
Last season, Taylor was demoted to the Championship after he controversially awarded a penalty to Newcastle United for a foul by Wolverhampton forward Hwang Hee-chan. This was later deemed 'scandalous' by Wolves' manager Gary O'Neill.
Due to the amount of bookings Chelsea received, they will likely receive a fine from the FA for failure to control their players. The Blues may be able to shrug off this fine thanks to being on the right side of the scoreline at the Vitality Stadium.
The Cherries had the opportunity to take the lead in the first half when Evanilson was adjudged to have been fould by Sanchez. The goalkeeper made amends though to produce a brilliant stop to deny the Brazilian from 12 yards.
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Bournemouth may feel they had the better of the game but the late substitutes Sancho and Christopher Nkunku combined to win the game for the visitors. Fortunately, the latter's iconic balloon celebration did not lead to his name being entered into Taylor's book.
Chelsea are back in action next Saturday when they travel to London rivals West Ham United.