Bruno Guimaraes avoided receiving a red card for Newcastle United after a challenge on Arsenal midfielder Jorginho last season(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Newcastle Bruno Guimaraes incident highlighted in Arsenal complaint after Chelsea red card fury

by · football.london

Nicolas Jackson getting sent off for Chelsea against Newcastle United because of serious foul play has drawn comparisons with a similar incident involving Bruno Guimaraes and Jorginho last season.

The referee, John Brooks, initially showed Jackson a yellow card after challenging Sven Botman following a long ball forward. However, replays showed that the striker led with his forearm and made contact with his opponent's jaw.

Video assistant referee Darren England then intervened, checking the call and deeming the challenge a serious foul play offence. He recommended an on-field at the pitchside monitor, after which, Brooks upgraded the yellow to red.

Afterwards, football.london chief Arsenal writer Tom Canton recalled, "Bruno Guimaraes did the exact same, if not worse, on Jorginho and it went unpunished." That incident occurred 18 months ago during their infamous 1-0 defeat to Newcastle at St James' Park in the Premier League last season.

Anthony Gordon scored the only goal in that game, which stood after three separate VAR checks. The first was for the ball being out of play in the build-up, the next being a potential foul on Gabriel Magalhaes by Joelinton, with Gordon finally adjudged to be onside.

However, they were not the match's first such checks. In the first minute of first-half added time, Guimaraes challenged Jorginho from behind and connected with the Arsenal midfielder's head, which resulted in a lengthy look from the VAR officials.

No further action occurred, though, meaning the Newcastle player did not even receive a yellow card. Howard Webb then later acknowledged that Guimaraes should have seen red.

Aslo adjuding on a lunge from Kai Havertz on Sean Longstaff some ten minutes earlier, the Professional Game Match Officials Board chief operating officer said: "A couple of situations, that in the cold light of day analysis that we go through, going forward, we would expect red cards in both of those situations."