Howard Webb gives Chelsea final Wilfred Ndidi red card verdict as VAR mistake highlighted
Chelsea have been told by PGMOL chief Howard Webb that Wilfred Ndidi should have been sent off during their Premier League match against Leicester last month. The Blues won 2-1 at King Power Stadium, but their afternoon could have been made far easier if the Foxes were reduced to 10 men in the first half.
Although the visitors were a goal up at the time of Ndidi's foul on Cole Palmer, Chelsea players were demanding he should be sent off, but Andy Madley chose to only show him a yellow card. Having worked closely with Ndidi, Blues boss Enzo Maresca was also of the belief he did not intend to cause harm.
"I'm not saying Wilf [Ndidi] was bad intention because I love Wilf," he admitted in a press conference. "Overall, when there is bad intention, I think the punishment has to be different." Although the incident was a number of weeks ago, how VAR reached their decision has been revealed.
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Full transcript:
REF: I'm going to go yellow. I think he catches him late. For me it just lacked the intensity, I think he caught him high on the Achilles.
VAR: The actual contact is on the heel. If anything there is a bit of a graze. Can we show at full speed?
AVAR: It's very low. Contact is very, very low.
VAR: Just show at full speed. Okay, so the intensity is not there. So I'm going to confirm on field decision of yellow card.
Following the showing of that, Michael Owen asked Webb for his verdict with the head of PGMOL believing he should have actually been sent off. "Yeah from the outset, I want to say that I would've given a red card, for two reasons really," he said on Sky Sports Match Officials Mic'd Up.
"This is a tackle from behind. The contact is in a pretty vulnerable part of Cole Palmer's anatomy - down there by the Achilles. Initially [the contact], when he comes in is with the instep as opposed to the studs.
"He comes in and he does not have a great chance of winning the ball. He makes contact higher on the leg and then slides down. The most forceful contact, where the studs really come in, is on the heel, but there is contact before that on the Achilles.
"When you factor in all of those things, the way he comes into the tackle, where it makes contact. I think this is more aligned with serious foul play as he endangers the safety of Palmer."
