Former England defender Jamie Carragher called it “box office”, while television commentator Peter Drury said it was “carnage and chaos”.
After a weekend of more managerial ranting about video assistant referees (VAR), on-field referee Michael Oliver and his boss Howard Webb were probably hoping for a quiet London derby.
No chance…
In 45 minutes – with an extra 12 minutes added on – there were numerous VAR interventions in Tottenham’s match with Chelsea, including four disallowed goals, three red-card checks and two penalty checks.
The second half had more goals, albeit with slightly less mayhem as Nicolas Jackson scored a hat-trick in Chelsea’s 4-1 win.
Mercifully, defeated Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou was measured with his post-match verdict, saying: “That utopia where there are no wrong decisions in the game will never exist. It’s our own fault as we complain about decisions every week.”
