Chelsea fans SLAM Taylor for barely checking the VAR before sending off James

Chelsea fans took to social media to lay into Anthony Taylor after his brief check of VAR before sending off Reece James in the first half against Liverpool, with two petitions calling for him to be banned from officiating the Blues' matches garnering 40,000 signatures each.

Thomas Tuchel's men were leading 1-0 just before the break at Anfield thanks to Kai Havertz's earlier header when Sadio Mane's shot hit James - who was on the goalline - bouncing off his right thigh before making contact with his right arm as he then appeared to motion towards the ball with his arm to clear it away.

Having initially waved play on, Taylor was called over to the pitchside monitor before making his decision in a matter of seconds to leave the visiting players enraged long after Mo Salah had tucked home the resulting spot kick, with Tuchel also questioning the speed of the check in his post-match interview after what proved to be an impressive draw for the Londoners in the circumstances.

One of the petitions calling for Taylor to be stood down claims that he has been 'constantly biased whenever he officiates a Chelsea match' and alarmingly suggests that his removal from refereeing the team's matches would be good for his own safety, while the other petition says that Chelsea fans' mental health has been affected by Taylor's performances.

While it is widely accepted that Taylor made the right decision to send James off and give a penalty given that the ball hitting the handball prevented a clear goalscoring opportunity, that hasn't stopped Chelsea supporters from venting their fury online.

Graham Clark tweeted: 'The bloke shouldn't even be doing Sunday league', while Ananthan Thenaliparambil wrote: 'Anthony Taylor has an agenda against @ChelseaFC. What a shameless referee!! He should never be allowed to referee a Chelsea game in his life.'

Thenaliparambil went on to list the various times that he claims Taylor turned a blind eye to offences by Chelsea's opponents in past matches, including Alexis Sanchez handling the ball in the 2017 FA Cup final and Matteo Kovacic being booked after being fouled by Dele Alli.

Miz Hadzic referenced the popular Simpsons clip of Abraham popping into a restaurant, hanging up his hat and then turning around and walking out, tweeting it with the caption: 'Anthony Taylor looking at the VAR monitor', along with a laughing emoji.

Lesilo Rula wrote: 'Anthony Taylor didn't even watch the VAR ad. Just blinked at the screen and decided it was a penalty and a red card.'