Spurs would have been reduced to nine men with VAR
Tottenham were very fortunate not to have two men sent off at Stamford Bridge and I think both Erik Lamela and Jan Vertonghen will know they were lucky not to see red. Their challenges, on Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard respectively, were clearly reckless with excessive force. They were dangerous and could have caused serious injury. Both were beyond the threshold required to issue a red card. Andre Marriner, the referee, will be disappointed he and his assistants did not see the incidents and deal with them correctly, and they were the only blots on what I felt was otherwise an expertly refereed game.
Within one or two replays it was obvious how bad the challenges were, and they are the type of incidents I feel video assistant referees will help to resolve. It can be easy to let things go in the passion of a derby and the VAR, adjudicating away from the stadium, is perhaps better able to make those calls dispassionately.
There is also the fact there is history between Lamela and Fabregas, having had a run-in during this fixture two seasons ago. Referees are always aware of past difficulties between players, and you do have to keep an eye on certain individuals more as a result.
But Marriner did not deal with these incidents correctly, and I am certain that if VAR had been in use, Tottenham would have finished the game with nine men. We will never know if that would have influenced the result, but Spurs will be glad VAR is not yet in use in the Premier League.
Keith Hackett is the former manager of PGMOL and resident expert for You Are The Ref.com
navigate an entire Europa League campaign. When they won the competition in 2013, they had dropped down from the group stages of the Champions League.
But it is unlikely to be Conte’s problem. Another title-winning coach will go the same way as so many of those before him and Chelsea will, once again, hit the reset button.
The task, however, facing owner Roman Abramovich appears tougher than it has ever been. They might find a better politician, but sourcing a better available coach than Conte will not be easy.
Chelsea would love to take Mauricio Pochettino across London, but the Argentine believes he is on to a good thing at Tottenham and he may well have better offers in any case.
Luis Enrique and Thomas Tuchel will not be put off, but good luck to them if they think they can do a better job than Conte.
This is no longer a squad of leaders and characters in the mould of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. This is a Chelsea team who have been reliant on the likes of Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso – two players Conte has worked wonders with.
It was perhaps symbolic that Moses fell to the floor as he swung a boot and failed to connect with the ball inside his own penalty area yesterday. Chelsea could well find themselves on their backsides for longer than Abramovich has been used to. Antonio Conte sent a message of support to former Chelsea captain Ray Wilkins ahead of the club’s London derby against Tottenham Hotspur.
Wilkins, 61, is fighting for his life after a heart attack, and messages of a speedy recovery are pouring in after news he was in an induced coma broke late on Friday. He had undergone double heart bypass surgery last July.
Chelsea manager Conte said: “We are very close to Ray and his family. Ray is a legend in the history of this club and, for sure, our prayers are with him.”