Jack Stephens pulls Marc Cucurella's hair
Marc Cucurella had been involved in a minor spat before having his hair pulled
As if Southampton are not in enough trouble at the foot of the Premier League table, their captain was sent off on Wednesday night for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair
Jack Stephens faces a three-match ban after seeing red for “violent conduct”, tugging on the Chelsea defender’s curls.
Stephens and Cucurella were jostling before a Southampton corner as Chelsea led 3-1 at St Mary’s, with the Spaniard placing a hand on Stephens’s chest before his opponent tugged at his hair.
Referee Tony Harrington had not given anything on the pitch, but was summoned to the pitchside monitor by VAR Matt Donohue and then returned brandishing the red card.
Jack Stephens has been SENT OFF FOR PULLING MARC CUCURELLA'S HAIR! 😱#PLonPrime #SOUCHE pic.twitter.com/XXgfZONCES
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) December 4, 2024
At the beginning of the 2022 season, Cucurella was involved in a similar incident when VAR showed Tottenham Hotspur’s Christian Romero pulling his hair just before Spurs had equalised at Stamford Bridge.
On that occasion, VAR took no action, which Cucurella described as an “error”, but Stephens was not so fortunate.
It is Stephens’s second red card of the season after he was also sent off at home to Manchester United after a late, high lunge on Bruno Fernandes.
Hair-pulling is not specifically covered in the laws of the game, so it is considered either violent conduct or unsporting behaviour. The referee decides whether the hair-pulling is forceful enough to be considered violent.
If it is not, the act is considered unsporting behaviour, which results in a yellow card. If the hair-pulling is done with force, most referees will consider it a red card.