Former Tottenham Hotspur centre-forward Clive Allen feels Cristian Romero was lucky not to be penalised for his hair pull on Chelsea’s left wing-back Marc Cucurella.
Tottenham got a solid result against their London rivals at Stamford Bridge despite not being at their best on the day. Goals from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Harry Kane saw the visitors draw the game 2-2 after Kalidou Koulibaly and Reece James netted for the Blues.
The London derby proved to be feisty as expected, and the tensions were also seen on the touchline between Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte.
One such fiery incident on the pitch came between Cristian Romero and Marc Cucurella just before Kane scored the leveller in the dying moments of the match.
Cucurella was marking Romero as closely as possible, which prompted a reaction from the Argentine centre-back, pulling the Spaniard down to the ground by his hair.
Allen believes Romero was lucky to have gotten away with his reckless decision, even after VAR checked the incident.
The former Spurs man admitted his shock over how the 23-year-old escaped a card and a foul that would have prevented the North Londoners from using the subsequent corner to equalise.
MORE SPURS STORIES
Speaking to talkSPORT (7:13 am, August 15, 2022), Allen said: “I was a little surprised, I have to say, that VAR looked at that and they hadn’t seen it as violent conduct.
“You can see he pulls his hair, pulls Cucurella to the ground. I think he was a little bit fortunate to get away with that, I have got to be honest.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
Conte’s side approached the game very cautiously compared to how they set themselves up against Southampton. In fact, they often looked like a far better team when they were willing to open things up and push more bodies into the attack, particularly in the second half.
Despite that, Tottenham would be delighted to have taken a point from this game, considering how they performed overall. This result is a sign of progress as great teams are known for getting good results even when they are not at their best.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
