Ranking Chelsea’s TEN red cards from least to the most ridiculous ft. Maresca, Delap, Neto… | OneFootball

Pedro Neto has become the latest Chelsea player to be sent off this season. We’re almost approaching the point we could compile a full XI of Chelsea players who have been shown a red card this season, with a manager in the dugout to boot.

“That’s something I felt we had addressed. We went 10 games without a red card, now [we have had] two in two games and that’s a problem we need to solve,” Liam Rosenior said in the wake of Neto’s dismissal in Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat away to Arsenal.

We’ve ranked all 10 of Chelsea’s red cards this season in order of ridiculousness.

10. Trevoh Chalobah vs Brighton

Chelsea’s defence looked all at sea when Chalobah came racing back to bundle over Diego Gomez.

Not especially spectacular as far as red cards go, with referee Simon Hooper claiming most of the ridiculousness for waving away the initial foul and needing a second look at the VAR monitor to make the most clear decision you’ll ever see.

Exhibit A in referees now using VAR as a crutch, looking shambolically lost without it when it was taken away for the FA Cup.

As for Chelsea, this was their season in a nutshell. Leading and looking in complete control before paying the price for a red card. They went on to lose 3-1.

9. Joao Pedro vs Benfica

“No, no, surely not, he is you know…”

That was Ally McCoist’s narration from the TNT Sports commentary box after Pedro received a second yellow in the dying seconds of Chelsea’s 1-0 victory over Benfica.

We’re not convinced he actually caught his man, but you could argue that he deserved it for a reckless high boot regardless.

No real harm done. Chelsea saw out the win with the remaining seconds and Pedro’s suspension wasn’t felt as they produced a comfortable 5-1 mauling of Ajax in his absence.

8. Malo Gusto vs Nottingham Forest

Gusto deserves particular ire for receiving Chelsea’s fifth red card in just six games back in October.

His head must’ve been in the clouds pre-match when Maresca was giving it “nothing daft, lads”, or whatever the Italian equivalent is.

As for the incident itself, it was a silly and avoidable one – a second yellow for a mis-timed tackle – but relatively inconsequential in the closing stages of a comfortable 3-0 win. And quickly forgotten in the wake of Ange Postecoglou’s sacking immediately afterwards.

7. Moises Caicedo vs Arsenal

“He was really pumped up, I think we saw that right from the start of the game,” Jamie Carragher reacted to Caicedo’s straight red against Arsenal.

“I think the whole talk this week of Rice vs Caicedo maybe got to him, understandably so.”

There was some debate about the decision, with Maresca decrying a lack of consistency, but it looks a red all day long to us. Reckless and dangerous.

Caicedo wouldn’t be the magnificent midfielder he is without his physicality and ability to pull off crunching tackles, but you have to toe the line.

On this occasion, he just looked too fired up.

6. Enzo Maresca vs Liverpool

All manager red cards are inherently a bit ridiculous, aren’t they? They’re an example to their players, and presumably they ought to know better.

And yet we can’t help but respect the Italian for saying his second yellow card, £8,000 fine and touchline ban was “worth it” after he went wild celebrating the Blues’ last-minute winner against Liverpool back in October.

More of this kind of thing, please, football.

5. Pedro Neto vs Arsenal

We love that football somehow finds novel ways to surprise us. A player moaning that they didn’t realise they were already on a booking is a new one.

To be fair, that might explain why Neto cynically chopped down Gabriel Martinelli by the touchline. Stopping a dangerous-looking attack would be well worth a yellow. But a second? You’d have to be seriously thick, which to be fair hasn’t stopped plenty of Neto’s team-mates this season.

Lots of Zapruder-esque freeze frames and conspiracy talk that Neto was never even booked in the first place. He was, although he has a case that Darren England could or should have made it clearer.

4. Marc Cucurella vs Fulham

Fulham keeper Bernd Leno acted quickly to recover the ball and get it launched after a Chelsea corner came to nothing.

As the ball fell from the sky, the Blues’ defence was not at all set and Cucurella found himself in a footrace with Harry Wilson. Cucurella panicked as Wilson got goalside, giving the referee no choice but to dismiss him as he clearly pulled the Wales international back.

All those hours on the training pitch learning complex pressing patterns, only to get done by something as simple as this. Ten-man Chelsea went on to lose 2-1 at Craven Cottage.

3. Robert Sanchez vs Manchester United

“Is Robert Sanchez the calmest error-prone player ever?” asked Football Cliches in the wake of another deeply unconvincing display from Chelsea’s No.1.

It’s a fair question. We’ve lost count of how many times Sanchez has done something daft, but he doesn’t quite have the hapless, ruffled air of an Aaron Ramsdale or a Guglielmo Vicario.

Case in point: Sanchez mildly irked, as if he’d missed the tube and had to wait four minutes for another, after charging out and completely clattering Bryan Mbeumo after just five minutes at Old Trafford.

The most ridiculous part might have been Maresca’s subsequent headloss, overreacting by making a series of baffling early substitutions.

Even after Casemiro walked to level things up, it was a minor miracle that Chelsea almost got something from that game in a narrow 2-1 defeat.

2. Wesley Fofana vs Burnley

The challenge is that of a man with 50(!) points on his driving license.

1. Liam Delap vs Wolves

There’s brainless and there’s this.

Delap received two yellow cards in seven minutes, the second for leading into an aerial challenge with his elbow. Watching replays, it looks as though he knew exactly what he was doing – to do that and expect to get away with it is something else.

“Very stupid red card that was completely unnecessary,” reacted Maresca.

“Absolutely deserved. It was a stupid foul. We can avoid that. I completely support the red card.”