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Saturday's match against Fulham saw both Frank Lampard and referee Mark Halsey return to form.
Lampard scored twice for the Blues showing everyone that he is indeed back on, and Halsey failed to book a player 3 times for sending-off offences showing that refereeing in the Premier League is still where it was last season.
Time and time again, Fulham player Michael Brown went in with hard rash challenges against Chelsea players and went unpunished.
Not even a Yellow Card was brandished against him, despite tackles from behind, two-footed challenges, and going in on a keeper with both feet in the hopes of dislodging the ball that Cech was trying to hold on to.
Brown has attempted to defend his actions saying in one breath that he didn't go over the ball in a tackle against Ashley Cole but that the ref blew it as a foul and he agreed. "It was just another tackle".
Brown further goes on to say that with regards to going in on Cech to dislodge the ball in the box, "I've challenged the keeper... the ref maybe thought it was a dangerous tackle but I didn't hear the whistle until I am about to poke it in."
These comments were obviously made in an attempt to diminish the harshness of his challenges throughout the match and throw light onto Mark Halsey, saying that he made the wrong call in giving Chelsea a free kick after his challenge on Cech.
However, Brown and Fulham boss Chris Coleman, need to be careful what they wish for -- if Halsey was actually refereeing the match with any sort of intent to punish poor behaviour, they would have been down to 10 men before the first half was over! Further, if both men were to check the count, it was Chelsea who ended up with the only yellow card of the match.
Whether this sort of refereeing is any good for the game however, is debatable. Many argue that too many stoppages in play slow it down - others argue that to allow tackles and behaviour as was seen on Saturday opens up players to more risk of injury and detracts from the job the referees are there to do, namely to control the game.
Will this sort of refereeing continue to go on? Absolutely. It is inevitable that in each instance two sides will be available to be seen and only one side will win out. That is the nature of the beast.
Our Verdict: Same old refs mean same old calls
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