Was Son’s Bournemouth red card justified?

Tottenham suffered a disappointing 1-0 Premier League defeat against Bournemouth on Saturday. Spurs ended the game with nine men after Son Heung-Min received a red card during the 43rd minute of the game while Juan Foyth received his marching orders five minutes later.

The Cherries, who played a very defensive game, scored the only goal of the game during second-half stoppage time through Nathan Ake.

Son received his red card following a push on Jefferson Lerma following a scuffle. The South Korean’s conduct was perhaps unprofessional, but nevertheless, in the eyes of many did not warrant a red card. The referee’s decision to send Son off was probably influenced by the reaction of Lerma, as well as those of his Bournemouth teammates.

Former player Chris Sutton took to Twitter to issue his response to Son’s red card, agreeing with most onlookers that the 26-year-old had been treated unfairly.

Harsh sending off on Son…

— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) May 4, 2019

In recent years, the Premier League has increasingly seen the awarding of red cards for soft pushes and fouls, and there are fears this is only going to rise further in the years to come.

The result leaves Spurs in third place on the standings with 70 points after 37 games. Their final game of the season against Everton is now a must-win, with Chelsea and Arsenal still in the running to claim a top-four finish this season. Mauricio Pochettino’s side also need to worry about their Champions League semi-final second leg clash against Ajax Amsterdam next week.

Spurs will have to go all-out to win their clash against Ajax, having lost the first leg 1-0 last week. This week will arguably be the most intense for Pochettino’s side this season. At best, it could see them advance to the final of the Champions League and attain a top-four finish, and, at worst, it could see them finish outside the top four and suffer elimination from the Champions League.

Featured image by Titan Sports [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons