Tottenham star Son Heung-min escapes red card after horror tackle on Fulham’s Tete as fans slam ‘unbelievable’ decision
TOTTENHAM star Son Heung-Min escaped a red card after a horror tackle on Fulham’s Kenny Tete.
And fans were less than impressed with the “unbelievable” decision in Monday night’s Premier League battle.
The London rivals squared off at Craven Cottage with just two points separating them before kick-off.
But a tense start saw both sides struggle to break the deadlock.
South Korea ace Son looked particularly frustrated as his underwhelming season continued.
And the Spurs forward made a hash of one challenge in the 28th minute as he clattered into Fulham defender Tete during a 50/50.
Son missed the ball completely as he stuck a leg out, instead catching his Dutch opponent on the ankle.
Son’s slide saw him continue to crunch down on Tete’s leg as both men became tangled up.
But while Fulham players rushed the referee in the hopes of seeing a red card, Son was instead only shown a yellow.
VAR then took a look at the incident before agreeing with the ref’s initial booking.
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'It's not clear and obvious', says Mark Halsey
By Mark Halsey
SON HEUNG-MIN produced a reckless first-half challenge on Fulham’s Kenny Tete.
But I agreed with ref Paul Tierney’s assessment that it was a yellow card and not a red.
Tottenham forward Son was a fraction late and caught Tete on his ankle, but I did not think the challenge was with excessive force.
If Son had been higher then he would have been sent off. It’s a subjective call and not a clear and obvious error by Tierney so VAR official Michael Oliver did not intervene.
Dejan Kulusevski also appealed for a penalty when Issa Diop caught the Spurs attacker in the face with an arm while shielding the ball, but I didn’t think it was worthy of a spot-kick.
But supporters watching on TV were left fuming with the tackle as one declared: “100 per cent a red card there for Son, unbelievable it wasn’t given.”
Another said: “How Son got away without a red is laughable.”
One gasped: “How’s Son not see red for that challenge on Tete?!”
Another added: “Are the officials waiting for someone to get seriously hurt to take action?”
The decision certainly came back to haunt Fulham, with Son assisting Harry Kane’s opener on the stroke of half-time.