It honestly feels like the refs have an agenda to make the pl close to keep the interest high!

It's probably just that the officials are truly awful. How the ref missed the hand ball is beyond me

FFS Matic.

2 minutes after the commentator points out we've only lost once with him in the team this season

Matic off misses 3

You can understand why. Barnes has had two awful previous tackles, but that was a leg breaker.

The ref is not protecting them. Absolutely awful by the ref.

For an over the top of the ball leg breaker challenge?

I can understand hus reaction

Living on the edge

We've been utter wank today. No excuses.

Well, the ref and the pl have what they want.

I'm pretty disgusted at the game today.

Two clear pens missed.

Two awful tackles by Barnes unpunished, then makes an over the ball deliberate leg breaker on magic, who gets sent off for the reaction!

Matic misses the cup final!

People will blame Matic but the ref has been a disgrace. 2 clear pens not given, and 3 poor tackles on our players from Barnes. If the players are getting no protection from the refs the players will react like that. The ref has cost us the win.

Exactly what I've been saying.

Barnes could have been sent off three times, the ref not even giving him a card for the magic leg breaker!

Perhaps if the ref had got his cards out for Barnes, magic would not have pushed him over.

Ironically it was a similar push on Costa that saw no penalty!

We were also shit.

Just admit it, it won't kill you.

We are not playing well, but we should have been three nil and cruising.

The ref has ruined the game, denied Us three points and matic for three games

No wonder why people think there is a campaign against Chelsea. I haven't see such a poor performance from a ref since Ovrebo, and i'm not joking either.

The ref was a joke today, but Oscar, Fabregas, and Costa were our biggest problems. All 3 are not playing well. 2 we can't cope without, and Oscar keeps having excuses made for him, but I'm starting to accept that he's just average. Slumps don't last for 2 years.

Agree with most of the posts, an appalling display by the referee, and maybe he / the fa want more money out of Mourhino's post match comments. Two clear penalties in the first half, the Burnley player should have been sent off for the Matic tackle, etc.

Chelsea should be around 15 points clear at this point of the season if ref's had been fair.

Having said that, there were chances to kill the game and the forward link up play was disjointed. Too many players out of sync', and a bit off the pace (e.g. Costa).

Even with a bad ref' you have to kill games off.

How the **** did Barnes manage to stay on the pitch? He could have taken Matic out for the rest of the season, idiot. If the ref had done his job and protected our players by booking fouls, there's no way Matic would have reacted like that.

I think even neutrals would agree with that

Played poorly but we had enough possession before down to 10 to have scored a second. How we didn't get at least one pen is beyond me.
Bad reaction by Matic, he had to go but how the ref missed the tackle is shocking.

I won't be getting over today for a while, especially if this de-rails our season. It's like refs are instructed to not let Chelsea pull away in the league.

We haven't had a pen since November, we have had about 10 clear ones turned down since.

It started with Costa getting booked for diving when it was a pen in the first game, and it's gone downhill ever since.

The ref missed the 5 key decisions today.

Barnes' jumping in twice on Chelsea players, both missed, then missed him trying to break matic's leg. Not even a card for Barnes!

A clear handball in the penalty box. Ivan's shot on target, defender jumps, turns back, arms outstretched in front of the ref!

A clear push, two handed, on Costa in the box. Ref and Lino both look on oblivious

Seems pointless commenting on the football after a game that was basically decided by the referee. It's difficult to believe some referees don't come into a game with some kind of agenda, but I suppose we have to accept it was just blatant incompetence.
From what I hear, the Arsenal game was the same. They were awarded a penalty for a foul outside the box, then given a goal that was clearly offside. Stoke's penalty at the end was also apparently controversial, so that's at least 3 matches so far (out of 6) where the referee has decided who were awarded the points.
It really is getting beyond a joke. Have we now got the worst set of referees in the major European leagues ?..I can't help thinking so. What makes matters worse is that they are untouchable. A manager or player daren't make a comment, fans are considered to be just whinging. So the farce continues, week after week.

I don't agree with one of the points, and when a player's career is potentially at stake, I'd take legal action against the FA for gross negligence. Nobody should be untouchable, and there's been too many examples this season of gross incompetence to let some ref's get away with it. Matic's career could have been ended today, and when opposition players sense they can get away with dirty play, it can make the game dangerous. That's were it gets so serious that something has to be done.

Alan Shearer has berated Barnes’ over his ‘terrible tackle’ on Matic.

However, I think he is wrong.

Barnes shielded the ball from Zouma, turned and took the ball upfield a few yards using a touch with his right foot. The ball was effectively under his control.

He then took 3 steps and passed the ball, at speed!, with the inside of his right foot, up the line toward the Chelsea goal.

Barnes has clearly kicked the ball, and it has clearly left his boot.

Matic is moving in on the ball, at speed, from Barnes’ left; he intercepts Barnes’ pass with outstretched left leg.

The ball hit the toe of Matics’ boot and goes out for a throw-in.

The ball is about 2-feet away from Barnes’ boot after he’d passed it forward, when the ball strikes Matics’ toe; Barnes’ forward momentum, after hitting the ball upfield, takes him into Matics shin.

It all happened so fast it is hard to see how Barnes could have stopped the collision once he’d passed the ball forward.

He appeared to be fully concentrated on making a successful pass upfield rather than attempting to break Matics’ leg.

Matic’s red card was fully deserved; however, one can fully understand the reaction if he genuinely believed Barnes’ was trying to deliberately him injure him.

I’ve watched this incident numerous times in slow-motion; Barnes had definitely made a pass (albeit intercepted) along the line. He didn’t go ‘over the top’ and it’s difficult to see how the collision was avoidable.

Am I a voice in the wilderness?

The key appears to be how you interpret the coming together of foot and shin, probably best seen at 40/41 seconds into this video..

http://youtu.be/e852UDSWgTk

I know it all happens very quickly in real time, but Barnes definitely leaves his foot in. I tend to think that experienced professional footballers know full well what they're doing even at speed. It may not have been intentional, but Barnes made no attempt to prevent it either. So, I can't agree with you..but I do see your point.

I sympathise with Matic totally. The tackle, the worst I have seen all season, could have ended his career and taken away his livlihood. Players are always told not to retaliate, but they are also human, and I believe most players would reacted in a similar way.

If the ref had done the right thing and immediately brandished a red card, Matic would not have reacted like he dd and the correct person would have been punished.