Freddie Potts apologises after ‘nasty’ incident in West Ham FA Cup win vs Burton Albion
West Ham narrowly progressed into the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday as they beat Burton Albion 1-0 in extra time, despite going down to 10 players.
Crysencio Summerville’s sole goal proved to be enough to get the Hammers into the hat for the next round, despite a nervy end.
Yet, just before the break in extra time, Freddie Potts was sent off for a foul on Burton’s Julian Larsson.
Despite the referee originally having a yellow card out, the red was soon pulled out, which put Nuno Espirito Santo’s side down to 10 players for the remainder of the tie.
Watching the match on BBC Radio 5 Live on 14 February, Rob Green seemingly agreed with the referee’s decision, labelling the challenge as “nasty”.
Who else but Crysencio Summerville? 💥@WestHam‘s star man breaks the deadlock early in extra time.
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) February 14, 2026
📺 Watch live on @footballontnt and @discoveryplusUKpic.twitter.com/WA2htdB8CW
- Read more: West Ham fans react to ‘horrible’ Vitor Pereira to Nottingham Forest update: ‘They are doomed’
Rob Green: Freddie Potts’ challenge was nasty
West Ham had struggled for most of the game against the Brewers and looked to have done just enough to go through when Summerville found the next out of nowhere.
However, Potts’ red card completely turned the game on its head, with the hosts going close to equalising multiple times in extra time before the full-time whistle was blown.
While some Hammers fans believed that the sending off was undeserved, the decision could not be overturned, with VAR not in play at the Pirelli Stadium.
We enter the Fifth Round of the FA Cup 🏆 pic.twitter.com/6UNobUJbgd
— West Ham United (@WestHam) February 14, 2026
Yet, former West Ham star, Green, seemingly agreed with the decision, as he criticised the reckless of Potts’ challenge.
He said: “It was a nasty challenge. Potts immediately got up and reacted by apologising and checking the opponent was ok.
“Larsen crumpled to the floor under the weight of it. It looked like a two-footed scissor challenge.”
How did Freddie Potts perform vs Burton?
Upon coming off the bench, Potts did not have the best game against Burton.
According to Fotmob on 14 February, he failed to complete a single cross and lost all of his ground duels.
On top of this, he made just one pass into the final third and committed two fouls, one of which led to the sending off.
| Freddie Potts’ stats vs Burton | |
| Passing accuracy | 86% |
| Crosses completed | 0 |
| Ground duels won | 0 |
| Passes into the final third | 1 |
| Fouls committed | 2 |
| Red cards | 1 |
Potts has emerged as one of the Hammers’ most promising players since his successful loan move to Portsmouth last season.
However, his mistake against Burton is no doubt a setback, and one that no doubt exposed his experience against a League One opposition who were giving everything to progress.
In the end, Potts is highly fortunate that the challenge did not come back to haunt West Ham and see them knocked out of the competition.