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Southampton's Jack Stephens Receives One of the Silliest Red Cards vs. Chelsea

Southampton's captain got sent off for tugging at Marc Cucurella's hair.
Roberto Casillas|
Marc Cucurella lays on the ground after Jack Stephens pulled his hair prior to a Southampton corner.
Marc Cucurella lays on the ground after Jack Stephens pulled his hair prior to a Southampton corner. | IMAGO/Pro Sports Images

In one of the most bizarre moments of the Premier League season, Southampton's Jack Stephens got shown a red card for pulling Marc Cucurella's hair.

Southampton was preparing for a corner kick in the 39th minute when its captain decided to tug on Cucurella's hair, prompting the Chelsea defender to fall to the ground. VAR called match referee, Tony Harrington over to check the action and after some consideration he returned and had no choice but to to send Stephens off. An action that Stephens had no reason to give the officials a decision to make added insult to a poor first half.

The action looked very reminiscent of when Tottenham defender, Cristian Romero, pulled Cucurella's hair in a game during the 2022–23 season, only that time, match referee, Anthony Taylor opted against issuing any punishment for the action.

After a promising start, costly mistakes saw it go down 1–3 prior to going down to 10 men. The Saints were a massive underdog coming into the tie, but after the red card Southampton immersed itself in a hairy situation. Pun intended.

Chelsea continues to impress early on under Enzo Maresca's leadership. Despite constant claims that the team is not in the title race, stacking up points and the state of the table come Christmas could lead the Italian to change his tune.

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Roberto Casillas
ROBERTO CASILLAS

Roberto Casillas is a writer for SI FC, focusing primarily on FC Barcelona, the Mexico National Team, Liga MX and all things Latin American football. Born and raised in Mexico City, he developed a deep passion for football from an early age and fell in love with Cruz Azul. The once future star of Mexican football still likes to showcase what’s left of his talent on the Sunday league pitch. He’s also a big fan of the New England Patriots—so much so he moved to the region for four years—, Chicago Cubs and is a life-long Formula 1 follower. When he takes a break from sports, he enjoys traveling the world, watching the latest great TV show, going to concerts and spending plenty of time with friends and family.

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