- Djed Spence calls out appalling refereeing decision vs Chelsea
- Englishman was elbowed by Liam Delap
- Chelsea striker went unpunished
Djed Spence came on as a substitute in Tottenham Hotspur’s damaging 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
But the Englishman did something after the game that has been on the minds of everyone related to the club: call out the standards of officiating in the Premier League this season.
Roberto De Zerbi’s side didn’t fare well on the night and it could be argued that Chelsea were the better of the two teams.
However, another refereeing decision went against Tottenham in the game, which is nothing they haven’t been used to, especially in 2026.
Delap doesn’t see red for Spence elbow
Spence came on for Destiny Udogie and got himself into the thick of the action.
Chelsea were 2-0 up when he came on and four minutes later, Richarlison pulled one back for Tottenham to ensure a tense climax.
And as Spence battled for a ball with Delap, an incident occurred that got everyone talking. The Englishman didn’t have his eyes on the ball and was focused on the defender as he appeared to elbow him.
It looked like a clear foul and Spence went down after the challenge as the Tottenham players expected Delap to be reprimanded.
However, the referee only brandished a yellow card despite Delap’s blatant elbow, much to the disgust of the away fans.
And after the game, Spence clipped the video of the incident and took to X to publicly call out the standard of officiating in the Premier League this season, as seen in the post above.
Tottenham are officiated differently
We sound like a broken record at this point, but the fact of the matter is that Tottenham have been on the wrong end of some truly horrific decisions this season.
It has almost become a weekly occurrence these days, so the players are probably used to it.
However, Spence did a good thing by publicly calling it out, as it is getting a bit ridiculous now.
Tottenham were piling on the pressure during the closing stages of the game. If Delap had been sent off, then they’d have played around 10 minutes of football, which may have been enough to nick a goal and mathematically avoid relegation.
Now, however, they go into the final matchday of the Premier League knowing they need at least a point against Everton to avoid relegation if West Ham manage to beat Leeds.
Regardless of how this season ends, though, Tottenham need to write to the Premier League and demand an explanation on why so many officiating calls have consistently gone against them.
