Arsenal and Chelsea were involved in an intense first half of the Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge, which resulted in Moises Caicedo being sent off.
Arsenal defender Piero Hincapie escaped a red card for his elbow on Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah when the video assistant referee decided the challenge was not worthy of sending the centre-back off.
The two teams faced a fierce first half at Stamford Bridge and referee Anthony Taylor showed six cards within the first 45 minutes. Martin Zubimendi, Marc Cucurella, Cristian Mosquera, Riccardo Calafiori and Hincapie received yellow cards, while Moises Caicedo was sent off for a challenge on Mikel Merino.
Three minutes after Caicedo was sent off, Hincapie was involved in an incident that prompted VAR to review the action. The former Bayer Leverkusen defender appeared to catch Chalobah in the face with his elbow as he jumped to head the ball.
Chalobah was in extreme pain on the surface while Taylor booked Hincapie. The Chelsea defender was forced to play on with an apparent cut on his face, but Hincapie escaped further punishment.
Peter Drury of Sky Sports revealed during commentary of the game that VAR told referee Taylor that Hincapie’s hand had been used carelessly, but that he had kept his eyes on the ball during the challenge. “Careless use of the hand, VAR told the referee, but the eyes are always on the ball,” Drury said.
This came just moments after Caicedo was shown a straight red card. Premier League Match Center on X explains why the initial decision of a yellow card was given. His post read: “#CHEARS – 34′ VAR OVERTURN Following a VAR review, the referee overturned the original yellow card decision to Caicedo and issued a red card for a serious foul.
“Referee’s announcement: “After review, Chelsea 25, challenges with excessive force and endangers the safety of the opponent, therefore my final decision is a red card.”
When Sky Sports pundit Daniel Sturridge was asked if Caicedo could have any complaints about the upgrade, he had a slightly different take.
He said: “The only defense I can make is that the referee has a good view and decides to give him a yellow card.
“Slowed down, it looks bad. But at the beginning the referee gives him a yellow card. It gets re-referred a bit, and he goes off with the help of VAR. But if you watch it in high speed, it doesn’t look that bad for a tackle. When it slows down it looks even worse.”
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