A dramatic end to West Ham’s Premier League defeat against Chelsea was made even more of a spectacle after something of a brawl between the two sets of players.
Just after Enzo Fernandez scored the late goal that completed Chelsea’s dramatic comeback against West Ham, chaos unfolded.
It all kicked off when Adama Traore clashed with Marc Cucurella, with Blues forward Joao Pedro pushing the Hammers debutant after he’d shoved his countryman to the ground.
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Jean-Clair Todibo was among the first to react after Pedro had given Traore a taste of his own medicine.
The Frenchman appeared to grab Pedro around the neck, so it was surely of little surprise that Todibo was sent off for West Ham against Chelsea.
After the game, Hammers News went in search of expert opinion, and the website spoke exclusively to former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg.
Mark Clattenburg explains VAR process behind Jean-Clair Todibo’s red card
Clattenburg has explained what the VAR process behind the whole thing was.
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He has revealed that before the age of VAR, a clash like that is something that the Football Association (FA) would have probably looked at after the game.
Still, referee Anthony Taylor had the benefit of using the technology and could see Todibo’s actions in full before making a quick decision.
“It’s always difficult for a referee when a mass confrontation breaks out,” he said.
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Aaron Wan-Bissaka playing for West Ham against Chelsea.
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“There is so much going on and it’s difficult for the referee to stop or identify everything that is happening.
“One of the recommendations is that a referee picks out a player from each team and issues a caution. Anthony Taylor does this by issuing a yellow card to Adama Traore of West Ham and Joao Pedro of Chelsea for pushing each other.
“However, VAR can look at all of the video and check if there was any violent conduct used by any other players, and he identified that Jean-Clair Todibo had used excessive force on his opponent.
“Before VAR, the Football Association would have looked at the video after the match and issued any further actions but now in the use of VAR, these incidents have to be dealt with immediately.”
West Ham defender Jean-Clair Todibo is sent off for violent conduct after clashing with Joao Pedro
Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP via Getty Images
Premier League issue statement after Jean-Clair Todibo red card
That was the first red card of Todibo’s Hammers career and it rules him out of the club’s next three Premier League games.
That is a major blow and will mean Nuno Espirito Santo will need to reshuffle his pack, with Max Kilman the most likely to come in unless a new signing is made there.
Nuno said that Todibo’s red card for West Ham against Chelsea was “disappointing”, although he didn’t go further than that.
After the red card was shown, the Premier League’s Official Match Centre posted a statement explaining the decision on X.
It read: “The VAR recommended an on-field review for an act of violent conduct by Todibo. Referee announcement: “After review, West Ham number 25 grabs Chelsea 20 around the throat in a violent manner. Therefore, my final decision will be red card for violent conduct.”
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