Mike Dean acknowledges he made mistake over hair-pull in fiery Chelsea vs Tottenham clash

No action was taken over the incident which led to Harry Kane’s equaliser

VAR official Mike Dean admits he made the wrong call over Cristian Romero’s hair-pull on Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella (John Walton/PA) (PA Wire)

VAR official Mike Dean admits he made a mistake over Tottenham defender Cristian Romero’s hair-pull on Chelsea opponent Marc Cucurella.

No action was taken over the incident which led to Harry Kane’s equaliser in the sixth minute of added time of the 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.

It sparked a major talking point and on review Dean, who retired as a referee after last season but has continued in a VAR role, accepts he made an error.

“Sometimes in hindsight, you realise you could have acted differently. I’ve now had time to reflect on Sunday’s clash at Stamford Bridge,” he wrote in his column for MailPlus.

“I could not award a free-kick as VAR, but I could recommend to (Anthony) Taylor that he visit the referee review area to consider a possible red card.

“In the few seconds I had to study Romero pulling Cucurella’s hair, I didn’t deem it a violent act.

“I’ve since studied the footage, spoken to other referees and, upon reflection, I should have asked Taylor to visit his pitch-side monitor to take a look for himself.

“It goes to show that no matter how experienced you are, and I’ve spent more than two decades as a Premier League official, you are always learning.

“It’s disappointing for me as this was one incident in an otherwise very good weekend from our officials.”