Hakim Ziyech saw a red card overturned by VAR following an utterly bizarre incident in the closing stages of the first half of Tottenham vs Chelsea.
Ziyech brought down Richarlison with a poor challenge before a melee started when the Brazilian reacted by pushing the Chelsea winger. Ziyech initially appeared to avoid any punishment, with referee Stuart Attwell showing yellow cards to Kai Havertz and Emerson Royal for their involvement in the pushing and shoving.
Attwell spoke to his assistant, Darren Cann, on the touchline before making his decisions. But after hearing from VAR Paul Tierney in his earpiece, Attwell showed a straight red card to Ziyech, who had clearly put his hand into the face of Royal - an incident that Attwell appeared to have missed the first time around.
The incident was sparked by Hakim Ziyech's tackle on Richarlison (Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)Ziyech walked to the touchline resigned to his fate before stopping as a VAR check came up on the big screen inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Attwell was summoned over to the monitor, and after seeing a few replays, he rescinded the red card in favour of a yellow.
The decision went down terribly with the Tottenham crowd and the coaching staff, with the fourth official receiving an earful. At half-time, Spurs captain Harry Kane was seen in conversation with Attwell as the teams went in at 0-0.
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“Well done to the referee, I think it's the right decision," former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said on Sky Sports at half-time.
"He wanted to push him away in the shoulder and then slipped to his face. Common sense from the referee. But on the other hand, a very lucky decision.”
Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith was confused by the process of the decision - but believed the correct one was reached in the end.
Stuart Attwell overturned his decision after watching replays on VAR (Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)"He has already made the decision so why has he gone to the monitor?" he said on co-commentary. "And now he has withdrawn it so I think it is the right decision in the end."
The red card decision came after a first half packed with incidents - albeit little in the way of goalmouth action. Raheem Sterling had a penalty appeal rejected after going down in the box after a challenge from Oliver Skipp.
Minutes later Cristian Romero went down holding his face following an apparent elbow by Thiago Silva. Silva was later forced off injured after Kane landed on him in the box.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg came closest to breaking the deadlock when he struck the inside of the post, via a deflection off Wesley Fofana.
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