New Angle Of Horror Tackle On Danny Drinkwater Explains Chelsea Midfielder's Angry Reaction

A new image of the nasty challenge on Danny Drinkwater, which provoked the Chelsea midfielder into a physical retaliation, has been shared on Twitter.

Drinkwater was sent off, then mocked on social media, for hacking down 16-year-old Alfie Devine from behind in response to the Tottenham youth player's initial lunge.

However this new angle - and in fact the original video itself - shows that Devine's two-footed challenge was undoubtedly the worse of the two infractions. Both Drinkwater and Devine were shown a red card in the aftermath.

The image shows Devine, with both his feet off the pitch, absolutely launching himself at Drinkwater's ankle.

The game was poised at 2-2 when the foul and Drinkwater's follow-up sparked unsavoury scenes of confrontation between both sets of players.

Of course, many will say a 30-year-old Premier League winner and England international like Drinkwater should know better. But Devine's forceful two-footer seems far more likely to injure an opponent than Drinkwater's angry swipe from behind.

Drinkwater hasn't played for Chelsea's first team since August 2018 and has had unsuccessful loan spells at Burnley as well as Aston Villa.

He won a league title with Leicester City in 2016, before sealing a £35 million move to Stamford Bridge the following year.

Despite this new low in what's clearly a lengthy difficult spell in Drinkwater's career, many football fans defended him on social media given the dangerous tackle he was subjected to.

"Doesn't matter what your age is. At any level of football, you throw a tackle in like that and you are getting chinned. If you dish it out, you've got to accept that," said one.

"He's just a kid but he can't do that and no surprise Drinkwater reacted. That's a leg breaker," replied another.

Was Drinkwater harshly condemned for an understandable reaction? Or should the Chelsea man have known better? Let us know in the comments.

Featured image credit: Twitter/PA Images

Topics: Football News, Chelsea, Football, Danny Drinkwater

Alex Reid

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

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