Bournemouth star Jefferson Lerma suffers BROKEN NOSE after being ‘punched’ by Crystal Palace’s Joachim Andersen
GARY O’NEIL plans to speak to referee chief Howard Webb after Joachim Andersen broke Jefferson Lerma’s nose and nothing was done.
Replays showed Palace defender Andersen caught Bournemouth ace Lerma with what looked to be a punch at a corner just after the half-hour.
It was not clear if it was intentional and though VAR ref Andy Madley had a good look at it, Andersen escaped unpunished.
O’Neil spoke to Webb last week after Dominic Solanke was denied a penalty against Chelsea.
The Cherries’ chief, whose side lost 2-0, said: “I speak to Howard Webb most Sundays at the moment! I’ll speak to him this time because I feel like it’s an important one.
“It’s a significant blow to the face. Jeff has broken his nose from it.
“It looked like a fairly clear punch in the face to me on the footage. The fact that we got the usual check complete from VAR and it’s one that’s gone against us was a surprise.
“But we were very poor and we need to improve.”
Palace manager Roy Hodgson said: “I have no idea what happened or how the player landed on the ground but I have to trust the referee, who did not see any reason to give a free-kick.
“That was backed up by VAR so that was perfectly good enough for me.”
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Eberechi Eze’s double took his tally to six goals in the eight games since Hodgson’s return.
He said: “I just feel like I am more free under Hodgson, he has given me licence to run at people.
“Under him I do my best to positively affect the games.”
But Hodgson added: “It’s what Eze has added to his game, it’s not what we’ve added to his game.
“All we can do is try to use his talents to the full and get him into positions where he can showcase those talents.
“He’s very keen to pick up on any information he’s given, so he deserves a lot of credit.”