Brighton forward Joao Pedro was extremely fortunate to avoid a red card despite an attempt to elbow an opponent in the face.
Pedro looked to race away from Brentford’s Yehor Yarmolyuk, but the Bees midfielder had other ideas and pulled his rival back by grabbing onto his jersey.
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Evidently frustrated at not being able to get away from Yarmolyuk, Pedro threw an elbow in his rival’s direction but luckily missed him entirely.
The match was stopped by referee Andy Madley to give Yarmolyuk, who had entered the contest just three minutes prior to the foul, a yellow card.
But he was quickly told to delay the game by Chris Kavanagh, who is in charge of VAR for the fixture.
Replays confirmed Pedro had indeed thrown a vicious elbow in the direction of Yarmolyuk.
However, Pedro escaped any punishment as the VAR deemed it was not a red card offence.
The Premier League Match Centre on X soon clarified why Pedro was not sent off.
“The referee’s call of no red card to Joao Pedro for violent conduct was checked and confirmed by VAR, who deemed the referee’s call was not clear and obviously wrong,” the post read.
Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg said the incident could not be deemed violent conduct as Pedro’s elbow did not make contact with Yarmolyuk.
More to follow…
