Joao Felix's red card against Fulham was the right decision, according to former Premier League referee Paul Walton. The forward's Chelsea debut had looked promising in the opening 50 minutes before he was shown a straight red card by referee David Coote.
Felix, 23, was handed a start by Graham Potter only a day after sealing his loan to Stamford Bridge until the end of the season on Wednesday. He partnered Kai Havertz and Mason Mount in the Blues' front three and showed glimpses of excitement in the first half before the nightmare moment struck.
Two minutes after Denis Zakaria was forced off with an injury - adding to the Blues' injury list - the Portugal international was dismissed after a high challenge on right-back Kenny Tete. Proceedings took another turn for the worse for Potter 15 minutes later when Vinicius headed the winner past Kepa Arrizabalaga.
READ MORE: Joao Felix sent off on debut after horror challenge in Fulham vs Chelsea
There were few complaints from figures in blue after Coote produced the red card and Walton was on hand to explain why Felix was sent off. "He’s lunged in to get the ball back - no intention (to harm) there, of course - but he lunges in, and what he’s done is gone in too high, the foot actually has connected with the Fulham player’s shin, David Coote has no alternative really than to send him off for the dangerous reaction and dangerous play," he said on BT Sport.
"For me, it’s the right decision. This will be looked at by VAR as it’s a sending off, of course, but this decision for me is the correct decision. We’ve seen it many times before where players realise and then at the last moment bend their leg or do something to nullify the connection, unfortunately for Félix what he’s done is go in with a straight leg, and with that comes an amount of force.
"That’s what David Coote has taken into consideration and the fact it was a dangerous position, he endangered the safety of the player as the law book says, we’ve seen this a number of times, and again no option at all but to send him off - welcome to the Premier League."
Felix will now miss the Premier League fixtures against Crystal Palace (Sunday, January 15), Liverpool (Saturday, January 21) and Fulham (Friday, February 3), meaning he will only be available for selection for 16 more league games before returning to Atletico Madrid.
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