Chelsea — refereeing decisions

Since the Premier League's independent Key Match Incidents panel began publishing, 17 confirmed refereeing errors have involved Chelsea — 9 in their favour and 8 against them, a net expected-goals swing of +0.59 across 17 matches.

More calls against a club is not evidence of bias — the spread between clubs is close to what chance produces. RefCard publishes the ledger, not an accusation.

By season

Every confirmed error involving Chelsea

• 2025-26 · Chelsea v Brighton (2025-09-27) — referee Simon Hooper; the decision went in their favour. Panel: 2025-26 KMI VAR error (missed_intervention): penalty_not_awarded — Chelsea v Brighton. OF vote 0-5, VAR vote 0-5.
• 2025-26 · Chelsea v Bournemouth (2025-12-30) — referee Sam Barrott; the decision went in their favour. Panel: 2025-26 KMI VAR error (missed_intervention): penalty_not_awarded — Chelsea v Bournemouth. OF vote 1-4, VAR vote 2-3.
• 2025-26 · Newcastle v Chelsea (2025-12-20) — referee Andy Madley; the decision went in their favour. Panel: 2025-26 on-field below-threshold (B#13): penalty_not_awarded — Newcastle v Chelsea. No votes (below clear-and-obvious threshold).
• 2025-26 · Wolves v Chelsea (2026-02-07) — referee Jarred Gillett; the decision went against them. Panel: 2025-26 on-field below-threshold (B#18): penalty_not_awarded — Wolves v Chelsea. No votes (below clear-and-obvious threshold).
• 2025-26 · Arsenal v Chelsea (2026-03-01) — referee Darren England; the decision went against them. Panel: 2025-26 on-field below-threshold (B#20): penalty_not_awarded — Arsenal v Chelsea. No votes (below clear-and-obvious threshold).
• 2025-26 · Chelsea v Newcastle (2026-03-14) — referee Paul Tierney; the decision went in their favour. Panel: 2025-26 on-field below-threshold (B#22): penalty_not_awarded — Chelsea v Newcastle. No votes (below clear-and-obvious threshold).
• 2025-26 · Everton v Chelsea (2026-03-21) — referee Sam Barrott; the decision went against them. Panel: 2025-26 on-field below-threshold (B#25): penalty_not_awarded — Everton v Chelsea. No votes (below clear-and-obvious threshold).
• 2025-26 · Chelsea v Arsenal (2025-11-30) — referee unknown; the decision went in their favour. Panel: 2025-26 on-field below-threshold (B#9): goal_allowed — Chelsea v Arsenal. No votes (below clear-and-obvious threshold).
• 2025-26 · Chelsea v Leeds (2026-02-10) — referee Robert Jones; the decision went in their favour. Panel: 2025-26 missed second yellow (Cole Palmer, Chelsea). No votes.
• 2024-25 · Leicester v Chelsea (2024-11-23) — referee Andy Madley; the decision went against them. Panel: Wilfred Ndidi committed a serious foul play challenge on Cole Palmer but was not shown a red card.
• 2024-25 · West Ham v Chelsea (2024-09-21) — referee Sam Barrott; the decision went in their favour. Panel: Wesley Fofana challenged Crysencio Summerville in the penalty area, referee did not award a penalty, and VAR did not intervene as it was below the clear and obvious threshold.
• 2024-25 · Chelsea v Brentford (2024-12-15) — referee Peter Bankes; the decision went against them. Panel: Referee did not award a penalty to Chelsea for Yarmoliuk's challenge on Cucurella, KMI panel determined it should have been a penalty but the error did not meet the clear and obvious threshold for VAR intervention.
• 2024-25 · Everton v Chelsea (2024-12-22) — referee Chris Kavanagh; the decision went against them. Panel: Pickford challenged Gusto in the penalty area and the referee did not award a penalty, but the KMI panel determined a penalty should have been given though it did not meet the clear and obvious threshold for VAR intervention.
• 2024-25 · Nottingham Forest v Chelsea (2025-05-25) — referee Anthony Taylor; the decision went against them. Panel: Elliot Anderson should have received a second yellow card resulting in a red card but the referee did not issue it.
• 2023-24 · Chelsea v Burnley (2024-03-30) — referee Darren England; the decision went in their favour. Panel: 2023-24 KMI VAR error (missed_intervention): penalty_awarded_wrongly (Assignon on Mudryk; not overturned) + Assignon 2nd yellow also wrong — Chelsea 2-2 Burnley, min —. No per-incident vote split published in the season-end source.
• 2023-24 · Brighton v Chelsea (2024-05-15) — referee Michael Salisbury; the decision went in their favour. Panel: 2023-24 KMI VAR error (missed_intervention): penalty_not_awarded (Gusto on Adingra) — Brighton 1-2 Chelsea, min 46. No per-incident vote split published in the season-end source.
• 2023-24 · Sheffield Utd v Chelsea (2024-04-07) — referee Robert Jones; the decision went against them. Panel: 2023-24 KMI VAR error (missed_intervention): red_card_not_shown (J. Robinson on Palmer) — Sheffield Utd 2-2 Chelsea, min 58. No per-incident vote split published in the season-end source.