Chelsea and Tottenham have played out a fair few fiery matches in recent years, creating a classic London derby feel to the clashes. The first half of the fixture at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season certainly lived up to that billing once again as small challenges began to bubble under the surface until tensions exploded.
This all led to VAR chaos at the end of the opening 45 minutes in which two players were booked for a confrontation between the two squads before Hakim Ziyech received a red card. The Moroccan international was adjudged to have caught Emerson Royal in the face with a stray hand during some pushing after VAR had told the referee Stuart Atwell that it was Ziyech, with the players getting lost in the confrontation.
There was confusion to follow though, as referee was then sent to the monitor after a lengthy stoppage to check the decision himself, despite the VAR stoppage before the red card. Atwell reversed the decision and overturned the red card, leading to plenty of confusion.
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On a second viewing, it seemed as though the reason it was overturned was because Ziyech responded to being pushed by lashing out and hitting Emerson's arm before following through onto the Tottenham defender's face, though he only caught him because of a push on himself at the time.
Discussing the decision at half-time on Sky Sports, former Chelsea player Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said: "Well done to the referee for returning it from red to yellow. I think it is the right decision - I think he wanted to push him away on the shoulder but slipped and caught him in the face. It is common sense from the referee but on the other hand, very lucky for Chelsea.
"When you see it from the other angle, then he needs to be sent off, that is why he is lucky because a different referee on another day might have not switched the decision around."
Ex-Spurs defender Michael Dawson agreed, adding: "When I first saw it, I don’t know what Emerson Royal is doing coming in and it then becomes heated. Stuart Atwell looks like he has control of the situation - why he reacts, it then puts him in a situation where he makes a decision and when you go to it, the end outcome is the right one."
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