Allan: Everton star ‘lucky’ to avoid red card after footage emerges – Ex-Fifa official
Everton midfielder Allan could have “easily” been sent off during his side’s clash with Newcastle.
That’s according to ex-FIFA and Premier League referee Keith Hackett, speaking exclusively to Football Insider
On Thursday (10 February) Newcastle shared the newest version of their regular ‘Match Cam’ series.
Newcastle’s camera caught an off-the-ball incident between Allan and Kieran Trippier following the awarding of a Newcastle free-kick.
Trippier snatched the ball from Allan, who reacted angrily and Anthony Taylor stepped between the pair.
Hackett praised Taylor’s refereeing and admitted Allan was lucky to get away without a second yellow card after his outburst, having just been booked.
“Yeah, if you look there, he does push his arms out a bit,” Hackett told Football Insider correspondent Ben Wild while analysing the footage.
“Maybe he is a bit lucky. Clearly, he’s annoyed because he’s just given away a free-kick which Newcastle then score from.
“You have seen yellow cards given for those kinds of confrontations between players.
“One thing I would say is Anthony Taylor has handled that very well. He made sure neither player was booked for that.
“He’s put himself between the players to make sure things can’t escalate.
“That could easily be a yellow card in different circumstances so the ref has done well there.“
Trippier scored from the free-kick Allan gave away, handing Everton a 3-1 loss.
The Toffees face a massive game against Leeds at Goodison Park on Saturday (12 February).
In other news, a pundit has dropped a bold prediction ahead of Saturday’s crucial clash at Goodison.