The London derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea lived up to its expectations, with both players leaving nothing to chance in a tempestuous first half.
Chelsea made the short trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium looking to kickstart their season after a poor run of form under Graham Potter. Spurs were without Antonio Conte, who is still in his native Italy recuperating after undergoing surgery.
Save for Pierre-Emile Højbjerg’s shot that hit the post, the main talking incident in the half was Hakim Ziyech’s red card which was later downgraded to a yellow card.
The Hakim Ziyech incident
The whole confusion started when Kai Havertz tripped Richarlison. Ziyech bumped into the Brazilian with both sets of players rushing into the scene. Spurs fullback Emerson Royal barged into Ziyech, with the Moroccan reacting angrily by shoving the defender with a hand on the face.
Centre referee Stuart Attwell yellow-carded Havertz and Royal for their role in the incident before turning to Ziyech and giving him his marching orders.
Attwell was, however, invited by the Video Assistant Referee Paul Tierney to review the events on the pitch-side monitor. Ziyech was thereafter handed a lifeline with Attwell downgrading the red card to just a warning, much to the chargin of the home support.
Hakim Ziyech got the red downgraded to a yellow 🙃 pic.twitter.com/HeePfgsjS9
— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 26, 2023
