Soccer Football - Premier League - Southampton v Chelsea - St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, Britain - December 4, 2024 Southampton's Jack Stephens looks dejected as he walks off after being shown a red card REUTERS/Toby Melville
SOUTHAMPTON, England (Reuters) - Southampton defender Jack Stephens was shown a straight red card for pulling the hair of Chelsea's Marc Cucurella in the opening half of their Premier League game on Wednesday.
Bottom of the standings Southampton were 3-1 down when Stephens committed the offence as the players gathered in the area for a corner kick, and after referee Tony Harrington took a look at the VAR screen they were down to 10 men.
Cucurella is no stranger to having his long hair tugged, although the offender has not always been punished. In 2022, Cristian Romero of Tottenham Hotspur committed the same offence on the Chelsea defender but escaped a red card.
Mike Dean, the Video Assistant Referee, later admitted he had made a mistake in not asking the referee to take a look.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Ed Osmond)
