Ruben Loftus-Cheek headed home in stoppage time as Chelsea escaped South Wales with a scandalous 2-1 win over Cardiff.
Loftus-Cheek, who came on as a second-half substitute, steered his header into the corner of the net from Willian’s cross to seal Chelsea’s comeback after Cesar Azpilicueta’s header from an offside position had cancelled out Victor Camarasa’s fine opener.
Cardiff, who also saw two good penalty shouts turned down, had looked set for a precious three points in their fight against relegation when Camarasa clipped a fine first-time effort past Kepa Arrizabalaga on 46 minutes, prompting boos and jeers from the visiting fans towards boss Maurizio Sarri.
But Azpilicueta, two yards offside when Marcos Alonso flicked the ball into his path, levelled on 84 minutes and after Antonio Rudiger was fortunate to escape a red card for hauling down Kenneth Zohore, it was left to Loftus-Cheek to leave Cardiff boss Neil Warnock fuming on the touchline.
The result lifts Chelsea to within a point of the top four, with Cardiff five points adrift of safety, albeit with a game in hand on Burnley.
An angry Warnock elected not to say anything to the match officials following Cardiff’s controversial defeat, instead choosing to stand right in front of them and stare
He said they were let down by the officials and he couldn’t believe the decisions that went against his Cardiff side in their defeat to Chelsea.
“To get let down by the officials – roll on VAR. I might be too old by the time we get VAR, but that’s why we need it.”
“The offside for Azpilicueta’s goal is not even close. We’ve worked three weeks for this, and we get let down by decisions.
“We felt that Morrison could’ve easily had a penalty.”
Maurizio Sarri says you have to get some luck sometimes as Chelsea’s equaliser appeared to be well offside and Antonio Rudiger avoided red late on.
“We were lucky for timing but in the end I think we deserved to win.”
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