Tosin Adarabioyo of Chelsea avoided an early red card against Liverpool despite taking down Diogo Jota in his own half at Anfield.
In the fifth minute, Jota appeared to be about to be sent off when the forward fouled him, as he raced in front of Adarabioyo to receive a long ball.
Even though the center defense was the last man, replays revealed that the floating pass over the top was sinking toward the side of the pitch, indicating that a goal-scoring opportunity—a violation that carries a red card—had not been denied.
Given that the offense was comparable to William Saliba’s dismissal in Arsenal’s 2-0 loss to Bournemouth yesterday, the fans are perplexed by the lack of consistency.
At Vitality Stadium, Saliba was awarded a straight red card after it was determined that he was the last man after pulling down Evanilson.
Chelsea defender Tosin Adarabioyo tackled Diogo Jota, but he did not receive a red card.
For not being the last man, the center defender (left) received a yellow card.
The main difference between the two occurrences was that people mistook Jota’s abrupt approach for Levi Colwill standing in for Adarabioyo.
Saliba fell back after a lost ball on Saturday, but officials didn’t believe the closest defender, Ben White, was in a position to sprint back.
After being asked to check his pitchside monitor, referee Robert Jones increased his initial yellow card ruling to a red one for Saliba.
Ironically, the Frenchman will now serve a one-match suspension at Anfield.
Jota was replaced due to what appeared to be an injury sustained in his collision with Adarabioyo, but Liverpool took the lead thanks to a cool penalty from Mohamed Salah.
Former Premier League referee Mike Dean believes that the decision to not send Adarabioyo off was the appropriate one due to the last-man rule.
“Tosin is so clumsy,” expressed Dean during the live Sky Sports broadcast.
[Levi] Colwill walks over to the ball as it disappears. There is too much doubt, therefore the ball is moving toward the assistant referee’s direction.
It resembled William Saliba’s final game against Bournemouth.
Referee Robert Jones escalated Saliba’s yellow card to a red one after he fouled Evanilson.
However, a lot of Arsenal fans expressed their annoyance on social media.
According to one, Tosin Adarabioyo was given a yellow card instead of a red one just because he isn’t a member of the Arsenal Football Club.
“Tosin Adarabioyo was not sent off despite committing the same offense as Saliba yesterday,” said a different complaint. “INCOMPATIBLE.”
An further user-submitted photo of VAR chief Howard Webb in the Bournemouth stands with the caption, “The difference between the Saliba red and the Tosin yellow.”