Dejan Kulusevski was lucky not to be sent off for Tottenham v Chelsea [Credit: Sky Sports]
Dejan Kulusevski was lucky not to be sent off for Tottenham v Chelsea [Credit: Sky Sports]
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Dejan Kulusevski should have been sent off for Tottenham v Chelsea

Keith Hackett
Keith Hackett

Refereeing Consultant AUTHORITY Former FIFA Referee; Head of PGMOL (Professional Game Match Officials Limited). FOCUS Laws of the Game, VAR implementation, officiating performance, and PGMOL policy. THE AUDIT Keith utilises Statscore’s Officiating Telemetry, including Deep-Data Metrics like Incident Accuracy Rates, VAR Intervention Latency, and Official Positional Efficiency. He provides technical refereeing analysis to reveal the regulatory reality behind match-defining decisions.

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Tottenham attacker Dejan Kulusevski should have been sent off against Chelsea on Sunday, Keith Hackett has said.

The Swedish international scored the second in the 4-3 defeat on 8 December but was lucky to stay on the pitch after an elbow on Romeo Lavia towards the end of the first half.

Hackett believes Anthony Taylor or VAR should have made the decision to hand Kulusevski a red card for his actions in the London derby.

Speaking exclusively to Tottenham News, the ex-PGMOL chief and FIFA referee was left shaking his head after the wrong decision.

"Oh dear," he said.

Dejan Kulusevski should have been sent off for Tottenham

"That deliberate elbow by Spurs 21 should have resulted in a red card."

Tottenham and Chelsea could find themselves lucky not to have had players sent off in this feisty affair, with Moises Caicedo somehow not shown red.

The Ecuador midfielder's challenge was much worse, but that counts for nothing when neither was judged enough for further punishment.

Dejan Kulusevski
Tottenham ace Dejan Kulusevski [Credit: Imago]

The Swedish international has been superb for Spurs this season, and it's that edge to his game that makes him one of the best around, even if it went too far this time.

Thankfully for Ange Postecoglou, Kulusevski will continue to be available, rather than miss three games so needlessly over the busy Christmas calendar.

Tottenham somehow managed to throw it all away despite being two goals up, and now sit 11th in the Premier League, seven points off the top four.

In other Tottenham news, the club have picked their favourite option to replace Postecoglou in a sack decision.

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