VAR actually made a big mistake during Chelsea 2-2 Bournemouth (opinion)
01/15/2025 06:15 AM
Chelsea dropped points for a fifth Premier League game in a row against Bournemouth on Tuesday.
Enzo Maresca has now seen his Chelsea side slip down to fourth in the Premier League after a run of three draws and two defeats in the last five outings.
Position | Team | PlayedMP | WonW | DrawnD | LostL | ForGF | AgainstGA | DiffGD | PointsPts |
4 | ChelseaChelsea | 21 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 41 | 26 | 15 | 37 |
Only a 95th minute equaliser from Reece James prevented that from being three defeats and two draws as the England international rescued a point in the 2-2 draw against Bournemouth, although the Blues were, in fairness, on the wrong end of a mistake from both Robert Jones and those in the VAR booth.
David Brooks should have been sent off after pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair
The inconsistency of Premier League officials is simply astounding.
As recently as December, Southampton No.5 Jack Stephens was shown a straight red card after pulling the hair of Marc Cucurella – as the players waited for play to resume.
Amid plenty of confusion for such a unique dismissal, law 12 in the FA rulebook emerged, which states: “Violent conduct is when a player uses or attempts to use excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball, or against a team-mate, team official, match official, spectator or any other person, regardless of whether contact is made.
"In addition, a player who, when not challenging for the ball, deliberately strikes an opponent or any other person on the head or face with the hand or arm, is guilty of violent conduct unless the force used was negligible."
On that note, there is no reason why David Brooks was allowed to escape with only a yellow card for the exact same offence on the Spaniard – in fact, this one was even worse than what Stephens did, as the Chelsea No.3 was sprinting to support an attack.
Those in the VAR booth at Stockley Park shouldn’t have even given Jones the option to review the challenge – instead, they ought to have recommended an immediate red card.
Premier League history was made in Chelsea 2-2 Bournemouth
A rarity was witnessed at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
When Jones was advised to go and look at the challenge from Brooks on the VAR screen, many expected the 37-year-old to dismiss the Wales international, as has always been the case in these situations.
However, the Merseyside-born official made history in deciding to stick with his initial decision of yellow card, something no other Premier League referee has done before after going to look at the screen for a yellow card review.