Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen was sent off in the 2-0 loss to Liverpool after bringing down Sadio Mane who was through on goal.
A Jordan Henderson pass from deep caught the Chelsea defence off guard, with Sadio Mane having to run beyond Andreas Christensen. Christensen bundled Mane to ground and subsequently got sent off.
The young defender has been blamed for letting his team down, but former Liverpool striker Michael Owen believes that Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga should be blamed for rushing out too early.
“We hear a lot of the time about goalkeepers creating nervousness in their back four and I think that’s a perfect example,” Owen told Premier League Productions.
“He did it earlier on in the game when he ran out of his box for no apparent reason. When your goalkeeper is nervous it runs throughout your team. He shouldn’t be running 25 yards out of his goal.”
Referee Paul Tierney originally gave Christensen a yellow card for his foul on Mane but that was upgraded to a red after the official was advised to check the pitch-side monitor by VAR. Owen believes that Chelsea do not have any reason to complain about the red card.
“I don’t think there’s any complaints about the red card decision,” Owen said. “It took two attempts from the referee to get there but I think he got there in the end.
“It was a great run from Sadio Mane to get across the face of Christensen but the goalkeeper comes out and confuses the situation for the big centre half.
“He [Christensen] puts two arms around Sadio Mane, grabs him, wrestles him to the ground and it’s a definite sending off.”
