PAUL MERSON forced Mike Dean to admit live on air that he made a MASSIVE BLUNDER in Tottenham's clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge two years ago.
Spurs defender Cristian Romero somehow managed to escape a red card for pulling Marc Cucurella's hair in the 2-2 draw at the Bridge.
Cristian Romero yanked Marc Cucurella's hair in Tottenham's clash with Chelsea over two years ago
Cristian Romero yanked Marc Cucurella's hair in Tottenham's clash with Chelsea over two years agoCredit: SKY SPORTS
Romero somehow wasn't punished for the foul, which moments before Spurs equalised
Romero somehow wasn't punished for the foul, which moments before Spurs equalisedCredit: REUTERS
Cucurella had his hair tugged by Jack Stephens in Chelsea's 5-1 win over Southampton
Cucurella had his hair tugged by Jack Stephens in Chelsea's 5-1 win over SouthamptonCredit: AMAZON PRIME
Retired ref Mike Dean admits he should have sent off Romero
Retired ref Mike Dean admits he should have sent off RomeroCredit: SKY SPORTS
Incredibly, neither Dean nor the video assistant referee deemed the hair pull worthy of sending the Argentine defender for an early bath
But on Tuesday night Dean was forced to admit he made a mistake after seeing Cucurella being tugged to the floor by Jack Stephens in Chelsea's demolition of Southampton.
During an appearance on Sky Sports' Soccer Special, the retired ref said: "Unfortunately, I was involved in one of these incidents about three years ago.
"I think someone pulled, I think Romero pulled Cucurella's hair. I didn't do it (send him off)."
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Dean then said of Stephen's dismissal: "But he's clearly done it, he's got to be sent off. It's his second red card of the season.
"It has to be a sending off, it can't not be."
His assessment of Stephens' moment of madness prompted a bold question from Chelsea fan Merson.
He bluntly asked: "But how come the Cucurella one wasn't?"
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Chelsea player ratings vs Southampton
CHELSEA continued their run of fine form with a huge 5-1 win over Southampton under the lights at St Mary's.
Here's how the players rated…
FILIP JORGENSEN - 8Made a fantastic save within the opening two minutes to keep Joe Aribo’s close-range shot out.
Also made a great stop in the second half. Many Chelsea fans are now calling for him to become the club's No1.
MALO GUSTO - 7Won more duels and made more tackles than any other Chelsea player in the first half. Provided a great assist for Sancho's goal.
AXEL DISASI - 7Scored Chelsea’s opener with a fairly simple header at the front post following Fernandez’s delivery from a corner.
TOSIN ADARABIOYO - 5Appeared to switch off when Southampton scored, almost leaving Aribo on his own in front of goal.
Rattled the post with a rocket of a shot in the second half.
MARC CUCURELLA - 6Left Southampton fans furious after going down following a hair pull from Jack Stephens which resulted in a red card. A solid performance, both acting and playing-wise.
MOISES CAICEDO - 7Made some great forward passes at times, including one outstanding trivela through to Felix in the box which almost resulted in what would've been an impressive team goal.
ENZO FERNANDEZ - 6Assisted Disasi’s opening goal with an inch-perfect corner kick but got absolutely humiliated by Kyle Walker-Peters in the build-up to Aribo’s equaliser.
NONI MADUEKE - 7Did well to capitalise on a howler from Joe Lumley before assisting Nkunku. Scored Chelsea’s third with a composed strike into the bottom-left corner.
Had a few chances in the second half but was fairly wasteful with those.
COLE PALMER - 7Had a a quiet game until he latched onto Nkunku's attempted pass/shot to fire home Chelsea's fourth. He was hooked immediately after getting on the scoresheet.
JOAO FELIX - 6Looked lively throughout but missed a great opportunity late in the first half. Also missed an open header just seconds after the break.
CHRISTOPHER NKUNKU - 7The Frenchman put Chelsea 2-1 up with a relatively easy shot in the opening 20 minutes. Aside from that he was fairly quiet.
SUBSTITUTES
**JADON SANCHO (FOR MADUEKE, 72)**Scored his first Chelsea goal shortly after coming on for Madueke.
**RENATO VEIGA (FOR CUCURELLA, 79)**Didn't have too much time to make an impact, especially with Chelsea so in control of the match.
**KIERNAN DEWSBURY-HALL (FOR PALMER, 79)**Didn't have too much time to make an impact.
Dean quickly fronted up to the retired midfielder, saying: "Because I got it wrong. And he's (Stephens) been sent off."
The exchange went viral and drew the ire of Chelsea fans.
Fans baffled as Paul Merson 'dresses like a lemon' for Sky Sports Soccer Saturday return... but there's a reason for it
One wrote on X: "You can’t make this up."
Another said: "You can't write this s**t."
And another said: "He really has no shame."
One remarked: "Shameless, Mike Dean."
Another chimed in: "So glad Paul Merson was there to put him in his place."
Chelsea thumped struggling Saint 5-1 to narrow the gap between themselves at table-toppers Liverpool to seven points.
The Blues will be back in action on Sunday afternoon, travelling across London to take on Spurs.