The Premier League has clarified why Brighton’s Joao Pedro avoided a red card despite attempting to elbow an opponent during a 0-0 draw with Brentford.
Pedro looked to race away from Brentford’s Yehor Yarmolyuk, but the Bees midfielder had other ideas and pulled his rival back by grabbing onto his jersey.
Evidently frustrated at not being able to get away from Yarmolyuk, Pedro threw an elbow in his rival’s direction but missed him entirely.
The match was stopped by referee Andy Madley to give Yarmolyuk, who had entered the contest just three minutes prior to the foul, a yellow card.
But he was quickly told to delay the game by Chris Kavanagh, who was in charge of VAR for the fixture.
Replays confirmed Pedro had indeed thrown a vicious elbow in the direction of Yarmolyuk.
However, Pedro escaped any punishment as the VAR deemed it was not a red card offence.
The Premier League Match Centre on X soon clarified why Pedro was not sent off.
“The referee’s call of no red card to Joao Pedro for violent conduct was checked and confirmed by VAR, who deemed the referee’s call was not clear and obviously wrong,” the post read.
Speaking after the match, Brentford boss Thomas Frank expressed his surprise at Pedro remaining on the field.
“I think it’s a red card,” Frank told Amazon Prime.
“You can’t swing your arm like that. It’s like, if you want to punch or swing your arm like that, hit or no hit, as I understand with the laws, it’s a red card.”
4
However, his Brighton counterpart Fabian Hurzeler unsurprisingly did not share a similar view on the matter.
“It’s an interesting opinion,” Hurzeler said in response to Frank’s claims about Pedro.
“I see it completely different. For me, it’s not a red card, why would it be a red card?
“You just try to get free from someone.”
On Amazon Prime’s broadcast of the match, former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg explained that the incident could not be deemed violent conduct as Pedro’s elbow never made contact with Yarmolyuk.
“Therefore, it’s whether he attempted to strike the opponent,” Clattenburg said.
4
“The more I look at it, because it’s an unusual action, especially from behind, he is looking towards Andy Madley when he swings his arm.
“He keeps his arm quite close to his body and I think it’s more of a gesture to the referee.”
Clattenburg added: “I believe it’s a gesture more than an attempted strike. I think Joao Pedro makes a gesture to the referee but if he wanted to swing and use brutality, he would have swung his arm out and created contact.”
Had Pedro received a red card, it would have been his first since joining the Seagulls in May 2023.
Pedro avoiding a red card was not the only refereeing decision Brighton benefited from.
In the first half, Brentford’s Yoane Wissa had the ball in the back of the net after Mads Roerslev had squared it from the right flank.
4
The linesman’s flag remained down for the goal, but VAR would unfortunately spoil the celebrations as the check confirmed Wissa had timed his run a fraction too early.
Brentford’s game plan was briefly thrown into disarray when starting goalkeeper Mark Flekken was forced to come off with an injury in the 36th minute.
It meant Icelandic goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson would make his Premier League debut.
Luckily for the Bees, Valdimarsson oozed composure as he helped the visitors secure their first clean sheet since November 23.
For Brighton, the 0-0 result extended their winless run to a sixth-straight game, with four of those matches ending in draws.
The result leaves the Seagulls sitting in 10th on 26 points, while Brentford sit one place below on 24 points.
