Lauren James was fortunate to avoid a red card during Chelsea’s heavy Women’s Super League defeat to Arsenal as she appeared to stamp on Lia Walti.
In a moment reminiscent of the World Cup last summer when she was sent off for stamping on the back of an opponent during England’s last-16 match with Nigeria, James kicked Walti in an off-the-ball incident but this time was only shown a yellow card by referee Rebecca Welch.
The incident occurred in the 70th minute of the match at the Emirates Stadium, with Chelsea trailing 3-1 and the winger was substituted five minutes later by Blue boss Emma Hayes, as her side went on to lose 4-1.
The contest was played in front of a WSL-record crowd of 59,042 and Chelsea saw their lead at the top of the table cut to just three points by the Gunners.
James is one of the most prodigiously talented players in England but this second act of petulance in six months risks her talent being undermined by her temperament.
Back in the summer, the then-21-year-old was sent off for violent conduct in the 86th minute of the England vs Nigeria clash, with the match at 0-0, after stamping on the back of Michelle Alozie.
James was initially shown a yellow card by the referee, but VAR recommended a review and it was upgraded to red after the act of petulance. She had been trying to lead a counter-attack when she was dispossessed by Alozie. Believing she was fouled, James appealed to the referee and when she did not get the free-kick, left her studs on Alozie’s back when she got back to her feet.
Lauren James stamped on the abck of Michelle Alozie during the Women’s World Cup last summer— (FIFA via Getty Images)
The Lionesses went on to win the match on penalties and made it all the way to the final before a heartbreaking defeat to Spain.
This time around, James’s moment of madness wasn’t as harshly punished, although Chelsea were well on their way to defeat by that point, and boss Hayes was critical of her side’s performance a a whole on the day.
“That’s as bad as I’ve seen us for a long time,” Hayes admitted. “The better team won by a country mile.
“All phases of our play were poor. They bullied us. That is not us at our best today. That is us at our very worst.
“You have to get beaten, you can’t go a whole season unbeaten, there’s lots of top teams. But what you cannot do is give away three goals before the half and then give a mindless fourth. You’re giving it up.”
