Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira was left furious when Chelsea defender Thiago Silva was only shown a yellow card for a handball in the Blues' 2-1 win at Selhurst Park on Saturday. Chelsea came from behind with goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Conor Gallagher giving Graham Potter his first win as Blues boss.
However, the game could have been completely different if Silva had been shown his marching orders after committing a handball in the 33rd minute. The Brazilian handled the ball on the floor as Jordan Ayew tried to dribble past him - and after a VAR check, Silva was only shown a yellow card for the offence.
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It proved to be a huge call, as Chelsea ended up winning the game, even though they were 1-0 down at the time of the incident. "I don’t want to talk about it and I believe the referee got it wrong," said Palace boss Vieira. "And if I talk about it I will be in trouble.”
Potter said he could understand Vieira's frustration, but former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher believes Chris Kavanagh made the right call by not sending Silva off. Speaking on Sky Sports News' Ref Watch segment, Gallagher explained to Vieira why Silva wasn't shown a red card for the offence.
"It's a yellow card, the referee is right," said Gallagher.
"The reason I say that is because I think it's a possible goalscoring opportunity, but I don't think it's obvious. Ayew has to get the ball and he then has to go a long way toward goal. Would he be able to get there [to goal] before a defender does?
"That's why I say it's possible. It needs to be obvious to be sent off. Somebody did throw a red herring to me yesterday and said he handled the ball twice so it's two yellow cards, but you can only give one handball, so it's only one yellow card.
"It's quite possible that's a goalscoring opportunity, but I don't think it's obvious."
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