Danny Murphy Claims West Ham Star Was Lucky to Avoid Red Card for 'Naughty Tackle' Against Tottenham

BBC pundit Danny Murphy has criticised West Ham United's Robert Snodgrass after the 31-year-old made a poor challenge during the 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur which went unpunished.

During the match, Snodgrass flew into a strong tackle with Lucas Moura, with his studs flying well over the ball and into the shin of the Brazilian. Referee Martin Atkinson was incredibly close to the tackle, yet opted to take no action against Snodgrass, not even awarding Tottenham a free kick.

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Speaking on BBC's Match of the Day, Murphy admitted that Lucas was lucky to avoid a serious injury. He is quoted by Forever West Ham as saying: “You can’t like this type of tackle, he’s running too fast and Lucas Moura is lucky here, that he doesn’t do more damage,

“It’s a naughty tackle and some of the others we’ve seen today, I think he’s lucky to get away with it, I think it’s a red card.

“I don’t know how he (the referee) hasn’t given a free-kick or a yellow card as for me it’s a red card. Sometimes they look nasty in slow motion but that was naughty and he was lucky to stay on."

The incident took place in the 55th minute, with West Ham already trailing to Erik Lamela's goal. However, Snodgrass was shown a yellow card in the 80th minute of the match which, had he been shown a yellow card for the earlier challenge on Lucas, would have likely been a red card for the Scot.

Lucas escaped with just a cut on his leg, and Tottenham managed to hold on and secure the 1-0 victory. As a result, Mauricio Pochettino's men climbed up to fourth place in the Premier League, whilst West Ham remain in 15th.