Ex-PGMOL chief Keith Hackett has now shared whether Liam Delap should have been sent off for his late challenge on Djed Spence during Tottenham’s controversial defeat to Chelsea.
Tottenham Hotspur needed just one point against Chelsea to secure their Premier League status, but instead fell to a 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge, meaning their relegation battle will now go down to the final day of the season.
Despite the result, Tottenham were the better side for large periods, but missed chances and costly individual mistakes once again proved decisive.
However, Spurs supporters also felt the team were on the wrong end of several refereeing decisions, something that has become a recurring theme throughout the campaign.
One of the biggest controversies came late in the match when Liam Delap swung an arm toward Djed Spence while challenging for a loose aerial ball during a Chelsea counter-attack.
Many Tottenham supporters believed the Chelsea striker should have been shown a straight red card given the apparent lack of intent to play the ball and the use of the arm into Spence’s face. However, referee Stuart Attwell only issued a yellow card.
Keith Hackett says Liam Delap challenge should have been red card
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA referee Keith Hackett insisted the decision was incorrect.
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“Frankly, this should have been detected by VAR, and the referee should have been advised to review this at the monitor,” Hackett said.
“Delap has looked at his opponent before illegally using his arm/elbow on his opponent, an act of violent conduct that should have resulted in a red card.”
VAR did have a brief look at the incident during the match but ultimately decided that Delap’s actions were reckless rather than violent conduct. As a result, they did not believe the challenge met the threshold of a “clear and obvious error” required to overturn the on-field decision.
That explanation is unlikely to satisfy Tottenham supporters, especially given the context of the match. Spurs needed just one goal late on, and facing ten men for the closing minutes could have significantly changed the momentum of the game.
Many also felt that, at the very least, Stuart Attwell should have been instructed to review the incident on the pitchside monitor himself.
Tottenham’s Djed Spence reacts after controversial Liam Delap challenge
Djed Spence was visibly frustrated by the decision during the match, with several Tottenham players immediately surrounding the referee after the challenge.
The Spurs defender later took to social media to react to the incident himself. The England International posted a slowed-down and zoomed-in clip of the challenge on X, appearing to show Delap looking directly at him before making contact with his arm.
The Tottenham full-back captioned the post with 15 laughing emojis, seemingly mocking the decision not to award a red card.
The Delap incident was also not the only controversial moment Tottenham felt aggrieved by. Just minutes earlier, Spurs were denied a penalty after Marc Cucurella wrestled Micky Van de Ven to the ground during a corner.