On Sunday, Chelsea dominated Tottenham Hotspur, at their home ground, as student bested teacher. Blues boss Frank Lampard beat his former manager Jose Mourinho tactically in a match that was overshadowed by ugliness that transpired off the pitch.
Spurs forward Son Heung-min got booked for a red card, due to a violent incident with Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger. Following the altercation, some Spurs fans racially abused Rudiger, and Mourinho made extremely smart-alec remarks about the red card. Mourinho’s sardonic remarks were not received well by Lampard, who hit back at them today.
While it’s true that Rudiger probably play-acted a bit from a really strong challenge, Son deserved a red card, and the the club’s appeal to get his three match ban overturned was rejected.
Much more importantly, Mourinho’s remarks are a really bad look, given a.) the racial abuse Rudiger had to deal with afterwards, and b.) the broader, widespread problem of racism in football right now. Lampard struck this specific tone with his response.
“With Toni, in this incident when he’s having to post after the game about something we know is a huge deal [racism], I think to question his integrity in that time is disappointing for sure,” Lampard said.
“Pretty universally, certainly what I heard in the commentary and the post-match reflection was that the Son incident was a red card. It wasn’t brutal but it was instinctive that warrants a red card in the modern day. It was pretty clear that was the case. I wouldn’t question Toni’s integrity on that. So I do defend Toni firmly on it.”
Tottenham Hotspur v. Brighton & Hove Albion FYIs
Sunday Dec 26, 12:30 p.m. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Team news for both sides: go to this link
Tottenham Hotspur Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Form Guide: Tottenham Hotspur- LWWLW Brighton & Hove Albion- LDDWL
Google Result Probability: Tottenham Hotspur win 62%, Draw 22%, Brighton & Hove Albion win 16%
Prediction: Tottenham Hotspur 2, Brighton & Hove Albion 0
Look for Spurs to bounce back nicely here.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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