Watford Midfielder Etienne Capoue Explains His Terrifying Tackle on Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha

Watford midfielder Etienne Capoue has answered questions about his horror tackle on Wilfried Zaha during last weekend's match with Crystal Palace, admitting Zaha was too quick for him.

Early in the game, Zaha drifted past Capoue, who responded by raking his studs down the back of the Ivorian's achilles in an attempt to dispossess him. Capoue was only shown a yellow card, but the dangerous challenge has been subject to immense criticism online.

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Capoue appeared on BBC's Sportsweek podcast, and was asked to explain his actions. The Frenchman admitted he was lucky not to be shown a red card, saying: “A lot of people talk about it. They’ve told me because I don’t have social media, I don’t follow after the game.

“So I watched it again and I didn’t expect it was that bad. During the action it was so quick, I didn’t want to do that, I didn’t mean to do that.

“Because it’s very dangerous for the player and if he has a lot of pain I am sorry. It was part of the game. I didn’t think it was like this but I will not do another thing like this.

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“On one camera it is a red card, on another camera it’s like nothing. So I was lucky to not get sent off and it’s part of the football sometimes.

“Maybe sometimes it will happen but against me. He’s a sharp player and he maybe was too quick for me.

“He’s a very good player, I didn’t mean to do that. If I want to do that the referee will know straight away and give me the red card straight away.

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“But it’s part of my game to try to be strong, to get 100 per cent of the challenges. So I try my best and sometimes I get booed because I’m doing wrong. So I try to walk on it to make the maximum games as I can.”

Because he was shown a yellow card by the referee, Capoue will not face any retrospective ban from the FA, meaning he is likely to feature for Watford against Tottenham on Sunday.