Former Chelsea player Ray Wilkins has questioned why defender David Luiz made what he described as an “atrocious tackle,” leading to the Brazilian being sent off in the closing stages of the London derby against Arsenal.
Speaking to Talksport about the incident yesterday, Wilkins said that he believes Luiz’s own fear of getting hurt in a 50/50 challenge caused him to lunge in on his opponent instead:
“It was an atrocious tackle. He either wants to hurt Kolasinac, or he’s afraid. I’ll go for the latter. He saw him coming towards him and thought, “wow, this fella is a giant” and he basically wet himself. Kolasinac went to the floor, his boots never came off the ground, he just went for the ball. If Luiz had done that there would have been nothing wrong. It’s on the halfway line for goodness sake.”
Manager Antonio Conte bemoaned the decision after the game, questioning why the Blues have had three players sent off in their first five Premier League games of the season.
Luiz will now miss three domestic matches, with the first of those games being the Carabao Cup tie against Nottingham Forest tomorrow night. He will also not be available for the league game against Stoke City on Saturday, but also crucially for the key encounter against Manchester City on the 30th September at Stamford Bridge.
