Brian Brobbey should have been sent off in Sunderland‘s recent win against Tottenham, the Premier League’s key match incidents (KMI) panel has ruled.
In the 63rd minute of the 12 April fixture, just after Sunderland had taken the lead at the Stadium of Light through Nordi Mukiele, home forward Brobbey chased a ball through the centre with Cristian Romero.
Tottenham defender Romero slowed down to shield the ball into the gloves of goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, but he was nudged in the back by Brobbey.
Romero collided with Kinsky, suffering a season-ending knee injury in the process.
Referee Rob Jones gave a foul against Brobbey, who had already been booked after a first-half altercation with Pedro Porro, but opted not to show a second yellow card and subsequent red.
The KMI panel voted 3:2 that the decision by Jones was a mistake, with the majority view being that “there is a two-handed push which is an unnecessarily reckless action”.
Tottenham, who lost the game 1-0, would have played the final 30 minutes against 10 men if Brobbey had been dismissed.
Netherlands international Brobbey received racist abuse on social media following the game, with Sunderland reporting the targeting of their player to the Premier League, social media platforms and the police.
KMI panel statistics show that Jones has been responsible for five of the 12 errors this season regarding second yellow cards not being shown. All of his mistakes should have resulted in red cards.
The other cases listed to involve Jones are Malick Thiaw (Newcastle at Bournemouth), Ruben Dias (Manchester City at Nottingham Forest), Rodri (Manchester City at Tottenham) and Cole Palmer (Chelsea v Leeds United).
Jones has the joint-most errors on second bookings in the past two individual seasons, with three recorded in 2024-25 and two in 2023-24.
Of 42 cases regarded as mistakes across the three campaigns, Jones has made 10 of them.
Starting from next season, the video assistant referee will be able to review red cards resulting from two yellows, but they will not be able to look at missed second cautions.
