Chelsea star Levi Colwill squared up to his Tottenham rivals as the London derby boiled over. The defender “completely snapped” in a match full of incidents at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The game already had it all before Colwill saw the red mist. Deep into first-half stoppage time, the Blues academy graduate lost it with Spurs midfielder Pape Sarr.
Nicolas Jackson had just been booked and Sarr attempted to take the ball out of Colwill’s hands. But Colwill was not happy with Sarr and fury took over.
There was a melee of players, with Emerson Royal and Yves Bissouma also getting involved. Conor Gallagher attempted to calm the situation for his Chelsea team-mate.
Gary Neville was on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports. He said of the incident: “Well Colwill’s gone, I can’t believe the Tottenham players are actually pushing him away from Sarr. They should have let him go for him and get himself sent off.
“Colwill’s completely snapped, he’s gone. Look at him. What is Chelsea doing? Colwill, he’s just gone.
“I think Emerson Royal has saved Colwill by pushing him away. There was a little foul, not too much in it. There was a little something where Sarr pushes him away and then they all go for it. Emerson Royal saves Colwill because he’s just gone.”
Both Colwill and Sarr were booked for the incident in a thrilling first half. Tottenham had taken an early lead when Dejan Kulusevski’s deflected effort beat a helpless Robert Sanchez in goal.
The game appeared to turn after Destiny Udogie appeared fortunate to only get away with a yellow card for a strong tackle on Raheem Sterling. VAR took a long look at the tackle but deemed a yellow was the right call.
Chelsea had two goals disallowed by VAR before Cristian Romero was sent off for a high tackle on Enzo Fernandez, despite getting the ball first. The foul resulted in a penalty, which Cole Palmer just about scored to equalise for Chelsea.
The Blues were pushing for a second, with 12 minutes added onto the first half. The drama continued early into the second period, when Udogie was eventually sent off after tripping Sterling and getting a second yellow.
