Jamie Carragher comments on Diego Costa Yellow Card

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher says that Chelsea forward Diego Costa should have at least been given a second yellow card for his tackle on West Ham goalkeeper Adrian.

Chelsea opened the new Premier League campaign with a home match against West Ham. It did not take long for Costa to get his first booking of the match. The Spaniard became a victim of the new campaign from referees to stop excessive complaints coming their way during the games. After Chelsea were not given a penalty, Costa complained excessively and was given a yellow card.

Towards the second half, he was extremely lucky to not be sent off after his late challenge on goalkeeper Adrian. Costa was trying to take advantage of Adrian’s mis-controlled touch, but he ended up coming with a very poor tackle. The referee was a long way away from the field of play and he gave the benefit of doubt to the striker. Costa ended up scoring the winner with a minute of normal time remaining after Eden Hazard’s penalty was cancelled by James Collins’ goal in the second half. Carragher says that Costa should have received a sending-off, although West Ham manager Slaven Bilic claimed that it was badly timed rather than reckless.

"This is a straight red card, that challenge there, it’s typical Costa, it happens too often.It (the challenge) comes down the shin, over the ankle, it won’t be the first time, it won’t be the last time, he shouldn’t be on the pitch," said Carragher. "He’s lucky. That is a bad one. It is reckless, it is a poor challenge," said Carragher’s punditry teammate Gary Neville. "I don't think it was reckless. It was not a deliberate one. It was late,” said opposition manager Slaven Bilic while Antonio Conte claimed that it was not a sending-off.