EPL 2017/18: West Ham United 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur, 5 talking points

#1 Soft sending off?

Michael Oliver

Although it was a pretty good game for the neutrals, we shouldn't forget that the sending off of Serge Aurier played a big role in the making the final score more respectable.

While you can't really argue about Aurier's second yellow, there wasn't much he did wrong for the first yellow he picked up.

At times, referees tend to delay showing the second yellow if they do realise the first one was soft in hindsight, but the extent of the foul on Carroll the second time left Michael Oliver with no choice.