Keith Hackett says Djed Spence incident deserved red card

djed spence was caught in the incident that Keith Hackett says should have ended with Liam Delap sent off. Tottenham lost 2-1 to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, and the decision left Spurs heading into the final day with their Premier League status still on the line.

Stamford Bridge and Stuart Attwell

Stuart Attwell showed Delap a yellow card after the Chelsea striker swung an arm toward Spence while contesting a loose aerial ball during a counter-attack. VAR briefly checked it and let the booking stand.

Hackett said that should not have been the end of it. “Frankly, this should have been detected by VAR, and the referee should have been advised to review this at the monitor.”

He added: “Delap has looked at his opponent before illegally using his arm/elbow on his opponent, an act of violent conduct that should have resulted in a red card.”

Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat

Spurs needed one point against Chelsea to secure their Premier League status, but the defeat pushed the relegation battle to the final day of the season. That turned the Delap challenge into more than a routine refereeing debate, because the match state meant every decision carried immediate consequences.

Tottenham also felt they should have had a penalty when Marc Cucurella wrestled Micky Van de Ven to the ground at a corner. VAR did not intervene on that moment because the ball was not yet in play.

Djed Spence on X

After the match, Spence posted a slowed-down and zoomed-in clip of the Delap challenge on X and captioned it with 15 laughing emojis. The post showed exactly why the incident kept coming back into focus: Tottenham had the result, the replay, and a relegation fight all in the same frame.