Tottenham Hotspur absolutely cannot blame what happened on Tuesday night at Stamford Bridge when they lost 2-1 to Chelsea to get swept by now both of their bitter London rivals, but it's clear that the officiating, once again, did not help matters for Spurs.
The sheer number of high profile calls that have gone against Tottenham during this Premier League relegation battle is insane, and, once more, the Lilywhites were the victims of another dubious call against the Blues.
Djed Spence reacted on social media with a series of emojis making fun of the referees for missing this call, but footage clearly shows him getting elbowed hard in the face by Chelsea striker Liam Delap, who is so inept at his job and so prone to fouls that even Chelsea are sick of him. Not only that, but Delap is clearly staring at Spence all the way, and it is extremely difficult to argue that, with the force of the blow and with how long Delap was watching Spence, that this act was not an intentional one. It should have been punished with a match altering red card, but, obviously, that is not what happened.
Tottenham keep getting hosed by the refs
Now, David Ornstein of The Athletic is reporting that the blow from Liam Delap was so forceful that the Tottenham Hotspur fullback has suffered a broken jaw. Despite the severity of the injury, Djed Spence will be able to play on Matchday 38 for Tottenham's final shot at the point they need to guarantee survival vs. Everton, though he will need a specially fitted mask to protect him.
It's alarming how Tottenham have come up on the receiving end of these sorts of calls, while far softer fouls, like Cristian Romero's against Manchester United, get punished with red cards. Romero gets regularly rinsed by Premier League pundits for making rash challenges, but there was scarcely any mention on the mainstream shows of this awful Delap challenge that had no sporting component to it.
As Tottenham prepare for their date with destiny and the infamous Micahel Oliver presiding over their Matchday 38 encounter with Everton, Spurs supporters can only look at this Spence challenge and feel both rage and an unwanted sense of vindication. Because if this blow knocked out Spence this hard, it is even more difficult for anyone on Chelsea or otherwise to argue that this elbow to the jaw was merely a case of innocent, incidental contact and bad luck.
Add us as a preferred source on Google