Chelsea avoided being reduced to ten players during their defeat to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light after Morgan Rogers appeared to knee Trai Hume in the head
Trai Hume being kneed in the head by Morgan Rogers
Morgan Rogers made contact with Trai Hume's head(Image: X)
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Footage has emerged that appears to show Morgan Rogers kneeing Trai Hume in the head during Chelsea 's loss to Sunderland.
While walking back into position during a break in play, Rogers moves past Hume, who is down on his hands and knees. As the Chelsea forward steps past, his knee makes contact with the Sunderland defender's head.
Hume immediately grabs the back of his skull and begins rolling around on the pitch. Rogers straightaway puts his left arm out before bending down to check on his opponent as Thomas Meunier comes over to argue about what happened to his teammate.
Watching replays of the incident, former Sunderland midfielder Don Hutchison said of Rogers: "He knows what he's doing there." His commentator partner Joe Speight added: "This was not deemed to be an offence by the referee or VAR, who checked it."
Hutchison, however, was having none of it, saying: "No. That's a red card, Joe; he knows exactly (what he's doing). When you're walking across there as a player, you've only got one intention if you're going to knee someone in the head."
Several users on X believed Rogers should have been sent off. One said, "He 100% meant this".
Thomas Meunier and Morgan Rogers arguing as Trai Hume rolls around on the pitch
Thomas Meunier was straight over to argue with Morgan Rogers after his incident with Trai Hume
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Another asked: "How has Rogers not got a red card for this, but (Max) Dowman got a red card?" A further viewer claimed: "There is no way he 'doesn't see him'".
One more fan explained what they saw, saying: "That was 100% intentional, look at the movement of the leg he uses to kick him the leg wasn't moving In it's natural position, he bent the knee to hit him on the head."
Another added: "Look at what Hume did to him last season". The latter comment refers to a tackle Hume made on Rogers at the Stadium of Light last season.
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Sunderland's defender completely missed the ball before kicking the then Aston Villa player up in the air with a lunging challenge that left Rogers on his back and rolling around on the pitch, with Hume not even booked for the wild tackle during their 1-1 draw last September.
The club's Instagram account then posted a clip of his tackle, captioning it "still got the ball" with a shrugging emoji. After it went viral, receiving more than a million views, Rogers reposted the reel on his story.
He captioned the post: "Great message to send out... Dangerous tackles getting highlight reels."