Roberto Martinez slams Chelsea for 'influencing referees'

Everton manager Roberto Martinez has blasted Chelsea for unfairly influencing the official in their recent 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge.

Gareth Barry was sent off late on before Willian struck the winning goal, and the Toffees boss was unhappy with the home side's approach to the referee.

Speaking in his program notes ahead of the visit of Leicester City, the ex-Wigan Athletic boss said: "Unfortunately, the sending off really late on reflected the emphasis that the home team had in trying to influence the referee and take advantage of their role of playing at Stamford Bridge.

"Mohamed Besic being booked after five minutes was a very loose way to referee a game and there was no need to show as many yellow cards as there were. But, more importantly, I never felt there was any consistency in judging every action equally between the two teams.

"That made it a tougher way to digest a defeat that we didn't deserve and showed a very similar ending to last season's game at Stamford Bridge."

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