Chelsea held off Arsenal ten against eleven (1-1), but Enzo Maresca refuses to allow this combativeness to mask what he considers to be a blatant refereeing inconsistency. The Blues coach recognized that Moisés Caicedo deserved his exclusion for a dangerous foul on Mikel Merino, while strongly questioning the absence of a red card for Piero Hincapié, author of a blow to the face on Trevoh Chalobah, visibly marked. Maresca also recalled the action of Rodrigo Bentancur against Reece James during the trip to Tottenham, judged differently despite a similar foul.
Proud of the performance of his players in numerical inferiority, Chalobah having opened the scoring before Merino’s equalizer, Maresca repeated his incomprehension: “MoisĂ©s’ red is red, but why wasn’t Bentancur’s on Reece? As a coach, I find it difficult to understand why they judge differently”he asked, referring to the match against Spurs on November 1. He then added that the referee assured him that the intervention on Chalobah was not an elbow, despite the defender’s injured cheekbone. In a particularly rough London derby, Arsenal received a total of six warnings.
