Should the Chelsea penalty have been repeated because of Soucek? The Czech midfielder ran into the box prematurely

Enzo Fernandez’s penalty sort of fell in behind Moises Caicedo’s criticism and Lucas Paqueta’s praise. After the Argentine missed the penalty kick, Tomas Soucek kicked the ball away from the penalty spot. And almost caused the penalty to be replayed.

Tomas Soucek’s home London derby with Chelsea didn’t go so well. Certainly compared to the first round, in which he assisted Jarrod Bowen’s beautiful goal in a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth.

Against the Blues, the captain of the Czech national team took a long time to get up to speed. He was on hand for the equaliser when Carney Chukwuemeka rounded him in the whitewash without much trouble and then fired past Alphonse Areola.

Then Soucek was eluded by Raheem Sterling and the Czech midfielder extinguished the situation with a slip in the whitewash. The penalty whistle blew. However, Enzo Fernandez was saved by the French goalkeeper and Soucek kicked the ball out of the box.

However, a replay revealed that Soucek ran into the box before Fernandez shot. And since the ex-Slav player then kicked the ball away, the penalty kick could have been replayed. But Sky Sports reporter Olivia Buzaglova then explained why it didn’t.

“According to Dermot Gallagher (former head referee of the Premier League), Tomas Soucek did interfere in the penalty area, but as there was no Chelsea player near him when he cleared the ball to safety, it was perfectly fine and the penalty should not have been replayed,” said Buzaglová.

But there is no such thing in The Football Association’s official rules for this season. According to them, a penalty should be replayed every time a defending player touches the ball after a premature run into the box.

In any case, Soucek was clearly kicked by the missed penalty because he was much more confident defensively in the second half.

He helped West Ham to the win, which Lucas Paqueta made even better with a converted penalty to make it 3-1.

Source: YouTube, Sky Sports