Noni Madueke held back by Chelsea backroom staff as Mauricio Pochettino fumes over 'ridiculous' VAR decision
Noni Madueke had to be stopped by Chelsea manager Jesús Pérez after a dramatic finish at Villa Park.
The Blues looked to have scored the winning goal in the 96th minute when Axel Disasi headed in from close range to make it 3-2 in favor of the Londoners.
However, that effort was overturned due to a lengthy VAR delay, resulting in referee Craig Pawson being called to the pitchside monitor to take a look at the incident.
This was due to a push from Benoit Badiashile in the build-up to the goal.
As a result, the final whistle sounded with the score 2-2, refusing Chelsea the opportunity to achieve the definitive return.
Clearly unhappy with the decision, Madueke reprimanded Pawson after the final whistle and the referee showed him a yellow card.
Badiashile was also reprimanded for his protests earlier. Mauricio PochettinoNumber two, Pérez, ran towards the two players to get them away from the referees.
Madueke wasn't the only one who was furious, with Pochettino saying after the match that decisions like this are “damaging English football”.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Pochettino said: “Everyone who watched the game feels disappointed.
“I think we need to explain two things to people: it was the referee who called the foul and disallowed the goal and then went to the VAR.
“But when the referee doesn't see anything and then goes to the VAR and changes the referee's decision, I'm not going to say anything.
“I don't want to speak badly about the referee, but it's incredible, it's ridiculous. It's hard to accept this kind of thing.
“It's really painful because for me it has damaged English football.
“It has damaged the image and I think not even an Aston Villa player or even the fans understood why the goal was disallowed.”
As a result, Chelsea remain in ninth place and six points behind Manchester United in sixth place with a game in hand.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa remain fourth and seven points ahead of Tottenham in fifth place.