Aug 27 (Reuters) - Former Premier League referee Mike Dean said a reference to fellow official Anthony Taylor as a "mate" had been "blown out of context", days after saying he did not alert Taylor to a referring mistake last season to spare him "more grief". The foul was not given by on-field referee Taylor, and Spurs scored a last-gasp equaliser during the resulting play. Dean said later he did not want to send Taylor to the VAR screen to view the incident as he was a "mate" and wanted to spare him "more grief". "It has all been blown out of context. Referring to him as a mate, you have got to look at it in context," Dean told Sky Sports' Soccer Saturday, referring to Taylor.

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Persons: Mike Dean, Anthony Taylor, Taylor, Dean, Cristian Romero, Chelsea's Marc Cucurella, He's, Anthony shouldn't, Pearl Josephine Nazare, Robert Birsel Organizations: Former Premier League, Stamford Bridge, Tottenham Hotspur, Spurs, Sky Sports, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru