Newcastle United and Aston Villa delivered fresh red card verdicts as Champions League fine margins exposed
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Dermot Gallagher believes Nicolas Jackson was deservedly sent off against Newcastle United on Sunday for his clash with Sven Botman.
Jackson caught his opposite number with a forearm in the middle of the park, with VAR intervening to upgrade John Brooks’ yellow card to a red card in the immediate aftermath of the incident. Jackson will now miss Chelsea’s remaining two league games of the season and the first game of next campaign as he begins a three-match ban.
Post-match, Enzo Maresca refused to blame the St James’ Park crowd for influencing the referee’s decision to send Jackson off, although did believe the 52,231 strong crowd may have had an impact in other decisions across the game. Despite a marked improvement in their performance in the second period, Chelsea fell to a 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park - one that could prove very costly in their hopes of finishing in the top five.
Sky Sports’ Ref Watch view on Nicolas Jackson’s red card
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Ref Watch, Gallagher revealed that Jackson deserved a red card because of three factors: “For me, yes, for three reasons,” Gallagher said.
“So, A, I think he looks at him, so he's made up his mind, he's going to... So he's looking to see if he's going to be... A, he looks at him. B, I think he arrives at speed.
“And C, he can't challenge for the ball, because if you look, the ball's not in the picture. There's no ball there.”
Jackson’s red card came less than 24 hours after Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings escaped a sending off for catching Bournemouth’s Alex Scott with his elbow during the first-half of their meeting at the Vitality Stadium. Whilst Botman was able to leave his tangle with Jackson unscathed, Scott suffered a broken jaw in the incident with Mings, one that will prematurely end his campaign.
Stephen Warnock, who appeared on the Ref Watch panel alongside Gallagher and Sue Smith, revealed that he was surprised Jackson was shown a red card on Sunday and why it was the correct decision to allow Mings to stay on the pitch.
“I'm with Dermot on this one,” Warnock said. “I think when you're trying to get your body in between the player and the ball, I think there's a natural movement where your arms will be used as leverage.
“It's a very short distance. There isn't a huge distance that's over.
“Now, people say, well, he looks at him, of course you look at him, he's on the football pitch. He's going to close your space down.
“Yes, it's very unfortunate, the injury that he's [Scott] received but that is more so out of the momentum of where Alex Scott is moving and where Tyrone Mings is moving. That comes together and just the natural force has caused that injury.”
Newcastle United know that just one win in their remaining two matches will be enough to secure Champions League football. Their vastly superior goal difference over Villa and Nottingham Forest means that even if both of those teams end with the same points total, the Magpies will finish above them in the table.