Everton’s Idrissa Gueye was sent off for slapping his own teammate Michael Keane during their Premier League match against Manchester United on Tuesday (AEDT).
The incident unfolded in the 13th minute with the game still goalless. United captain Bruno Fernandes had just gone close with a shot when Gueye and Keane began arguing inside their own half. Keane appeared to push the midfielder away twice before Gueye responded by raising his hand into the defender’s face.
Jordan Pickford was forced to intervene, dragging the pair apart, but referee Tony Harrington wasted little time. He walked over and showed Gueye a straight red card for violent conduct.
The Premier League’s Match Centre later stated on X that VAR had checked and confirmed the decision, describing Gueye’s action as a “clear strike to the face of Keane”.
Under the laws of the game, violent conduct includes striking “an opponent or any other person on the head or face with the hand or arm” unless the force is negligible.
Gueye is the first player to be sent off in the Premier League for fighting with a team-mate since Ricardo Fuller with Andy Griffin for Stoke on 28 December 2008.
Former Everton and Man United star Wayne Rooney said: “To and to get a player sent off for slapping your team-mate is disappointing. [Everton manager] David Moyes will be absolutely raging in the dressingroom.”
Ex-United striker Michael Owen added: “Gueye obviously thinks Keane should be switched on to his little pass, but obviously Keane wasn’t.
“And he runs over to him quite aggressively (and) he looks like he’s the instigator and all of that.
“Michael Keane sort of pushes him away and then a slap comes in. And it’s hard to argue, really. It doesn’t hurt Michael Keane in any way, but you can’t slap people in the face.
“That’s the rule, basically, and there is a clear slap in the face. I don’t think the referee’s got much alternative there.”
Former England and Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, suggested the confrontation did not come out of nowhere.
Hart said something “must have been brewing” between the pair before the sending-off. He added that Keane, the bigger of the two, initially shrugged Gueye off with one arm before the argument escalated.
“The referee wasn’t even close enough to hear what Idrissa Gueye was saying but he was in Michael Keane’s face,” Hart said.
“When he came over to continue the argument, the referee just casually walked over and sent him off. Jordan Pickford did very well in the situation. If that is all that happened though, it isn’t a red card. Something must’ve been brewing between them two.”
Remarkably, Everton still scored the opening goal to lead 1-0 at halftime with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scoring in the 29th minute.