Exclusive: Premier League investigate Sessegnon chaos in Bournemouth v Fulham
Fulham winger Ryan Sessegnon’s substitution against Bournemouth will spark a Premier League investigation and possibly even a rule change, according to Keith Hackett.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider it was “amazing” to see an error if this magnitude be made at the “elite” level of the game.
Marco Silva and Andoni Iraola are both Tottenham targets this summer, should Daniel Levy relieve Ange Postecoglou of his duties in North London.
Both managers faced off against each other on Monday night (14 April) with both focused on achieving the same goal of helping their teams qualify for European football.
Newcastle target Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring in the first minute for the Cherries, and despite dominating most of the match, Fulham were unable to find a way through a stout defence, expertly marshalled by Liverpool target Dean Huijsen.
However, an embarrassing mix-up on the side-lines overshadowed the spectacle on the pitch, as Silva looked to make changes on the hour-mark, which will likely now ignite a Premier League investigation.
Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon substituted by mistake
With his side struggling to find a breakthrough against Bournemouth, Silva looked to make a triple substitution, introducing Adama Traore, Raul Jimenez and captain Tom Cairney.
Off came Rodrigo Muniz, Sander Berge and Sessegnon, before the chaos began.
Having already left the field of play, Silva and his coaching staff quickly made clear to fourth official Tim Robinson they did not want to substitute the English winger.
However, by letter of the law, since Sessegnon had left the field of play and Traore had already made his way onto the pitch, the substitution was set in stone and as such, Michael Oliver refused any attempts from the former Tottenham man to re-enter the field of play.
| Match stats | Bournemouth | Fulham |
| Possession | 41% | 59% |
| Shots (on target) | 12 (3) | 12 (7) |
| Expected goals | 1.46 | 1.07 |
| Big chances (missed) | 2 (2) | 1 (1) |
| Corners | 6 | 9 |
Speaking in his post-match press conference via The Athletic, the Portuguese manager said: “He [Robinson] said about number two and number three, that was the confusion between Ryan and Robinson.
“We had enough time to correct it when I saw Sessegnon out. I tried to correct it, they saw that it was a mistake from a lack of communication and he [Robinson] decided not to let us correct it.”
Silva seemingly implied he’d wanted to substitute number 20, Sasa Lukic, instead of number 30, Sessegnon, with the confusion arising at the point Fulham staff informed the fourth official of the intended changes, a process done using cards filled in by hand.
The whole moment was the sort of thing that would cause uproar in a Sunday league match, and seeing it happen in the Premier League is hard to comprehend.
Keith Hackett analyses Fulham substitution mix-up
Having analysed the incident, ex-PGMOL chief Hackett told Football Insider the mix-up would certainly spark an investigation into events, whilst also suggesting a rule change that could avoid a similar incident taking place in the future, saying:
“It is amazing that in the elite level of the game, an error of this magnitude should be made.
“The fact that the substitute [Traore] has entered the field of play determines that Sessegnon can no longer return onto the field of play.
“Whilst it may appear harsh, the error here rests on club officials and not the match officials.
“Paperwork is available to hopefully ensure that there is no error in communication.
“I do think that with the use of an iPad, the substitution procedure could have the names of the substitutes being displayed on the stadium screens or perimeter advertising boards.
“The Premier League and PGMOL will no doubt investigate this problem and review procedures making changes if appropriate.”