Footage online suggests that referee Andre Marriner and his VAR team may have made a key mistake in not sending off Ricardo Pereira for a foul on Joao Felix in the most recent Chelsea game.
What’s the latest on Joao Felix, VAR and Chelsea?
In their latest Premier League fixture, the Blues were able to pick up all three points on the road away against Leicester City in a solid 3-1 victory.
Ben Chilwell puts Graham Potter and co 1-0 up but the Foxes then hit back thanks to Patson Daka. However, goals from Kai Havertz and then Matteo Kovacic were enough to see the away team seal the win.
And while Chelsea will be delighted to pick up a much-needed three points in the league, they may feel as though the opposition should have been down to ten men early on in the game.
Indeed, inside the first few minutes, Pereira clearly stamped his studs high into the side of Felix’s shin in what looked to be a really poor tackle – as shown in this footage.
Do you think it should have been a red card?
Yes
No
Did Pereira deserve to be sent off for the foul on Felix?
The still image above shows how Pereira’s boot slides down the shin of Felix and then stamps into his ankle, which potentially could have been broken as it takes the brunt of the impact.
Evidently, it was a terrible challenge and with VAR able to review such incidents, it’s quite remarkable that the Leicester City defender isn’t sent off.
Presumably, Marriner didn’t realise just how poor the foul was live but the other officials really should have told him to then review it on the monitor. Perhaps Pereira got away with it because it was so early on in the game but with a tackle as bad as this, that shouldn’t have any relevance.
In the end, Felix was thankfully able to carry on and help his team pick up the points but had things turned out differently this could have been one of the big talking points in the Premier League this weekend.
