Tottenham were at the wrong end of a key refereeing decision in their fight against relegation, the Premier League's key match incidents (KMI) panel has ruled.
Spurs are fighting an unfathomable drop into the Championship, and remain without a win in the league in 2026.
Roberto De Zerbi has been appointed to save the club from relegation, and fell to a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland in his first game.
The Black Cats edged the game 1-0, thanks to Nordi Mukiele's deflected winner.
But Sunderland should have been playing for 10 men for the final 30 minutes, according to the expert panel.
Brian Brobbey, having already been shown a yellow card, pushed Spurs captain Cristian Romero into goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky.
Romero suffered a season-ending injury in the process, while Kinsky was left requiring medical attention to bandage a cut to the head.
Referee Rob Jones gave a foul against Brobbey, but opted not to show a second yellow card and subsequent red.
And it has now been confirmed that Brobbey should have been given his marching orders.
The KMI panel voted 3:2 that Jones made a mistake not brandishing a second yellow card, with the majority view being that "there is a two-handed push which is an unnecessarily reckless action".
Spurs left the Stadium of Light empty-handed, and went on to concede a 95th-minute equaliser to Brighton the following week. They next travel to Wolves in a must-win game in their battle against the drop.
The panel concluded that Jones has been guilty of four other instances this season where a second yellow card should have been shown and was not.
