Moises Caicedo was sent for an early bath during the first half of Chelsea’s clash against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge on Sunday night
John Terry believes Anthony Taylor was right to send off Moises Caicedo during Chelsea’s 1-1 draw to Arsenal. The 24-year-old midfielder was given his marching orders shortly before half-time following a late challenge on Mikel Merino in the middle of the park.
The on-field referee initially cautioned Caicedo before the Video Assistant Referee intervened. John Brooks and his assistant, Edward Smart, reviewed the incident from Stockley Park, and, after much deliberation, they urged Taylor to examine the tackle for himself on the pitch-side monitor.
He then overturned the original decision and upgraded the yellow card to a red. Announcing the decision to supporters at Stamford Bridge, Taylor said: “After review, Chelsea 25, makes a challenge with excessive force and endangers the safety of the opponent, therefore my final decision is red card.”
The Premier League Match Centre later described the challenge by Caicedo as ‘serious foul play’. In a video on TikTok after the game, Terry reflected on the Ecuador international’s tackle.
The Chelsea legend conceded that the on-field referee was right to send Caicedo for an early bath, although he claimed that Taylor ‘killed’ the London derby by brandishing three yellow cards in the opening quarter of an hour.
“One-all, and the game’s just finished,” said Terry. “But I’m absolutely delighted. Firstly, with that performance from the boys. I thought we were by far the better team, regardless of spending the majority of the game down to 10 men.
“But I thought the first half, there was one team on the front foot and looking to win the game, showing aggression. It’s a London Derby, and that’s what we wanna see from our players, flying into tackles – a little bit of aggression.”
Terry added: “I think, unfortunately, the referees killed the game early on. [Taylor] handed out three yellow cards in the first 15 minutes and taking this sting out of it.
“But no, no arguments with the Caicedo one. I think that’s a red card, and unfortunately, he’s gonna be a big miss for us the next couple of games as well.”
Caicedo will miss Chelsea’s clash against Leeds United at Elland Road, Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium, and Everton at Stamford Bridge. Terry continued: “But overall, I thought there was one team trying to win the game, and that was us.
“I thought we were very good going forward, showing that we’re really direct, really quick on the counterattack as well, but very solid defensively. That can be tiring for the boys, being down to 10 men, especially after a big week against Barcelona as well, and travelling the way to Burnley last weekend as well.
“So, super performance from the boys. Delighted with Trevor [Chalobah] scoring from the set play. We spoke about how important set plays were in the build-up to this game, and thankfully, we were the team to get the advantage from that one.
“So overall, super delighted. We rest up, and we keep going. But as a supporter, we have to be delighted with that today because Arsenal have been rolling teams over week after week so far, hence why they’re top of the league.”
Arsenal are six points adrift at the top of the Premier League, with Chelsea falling to third following Manchester City’s win over Leeds United on Saturday. Terry added: “But they don’t get any further away from us in this title race so far.
“But I think today we’ve shown that we can compete with the very best in the league and give everyone a run for their money.”
