Brobbey Rips Colwill's Shirt and Wins a Disputed Penalty as Sunderland Beat Chelsea

Sunderland beat Chelsea 1-0 at the Stadium of Light on Sunday, and the game turned on a penalty that probably should not have been given. Brian Brobbey grabbed Levi Colwill’s shirt, went down in the box and won the spot kick that Enzo Le Fée converted in the 36th minute, even though replays showed Brobbey tripping over his own feet. Brobbey was later booked for wrestling Romeo Lavia to the ground, and the win lifted Sunderland off the foot of the Premier League table.

What happened with Brobbey and Colwill?

Brobbey spent the first half bullying Chelsea’s defence, and the penalty came from the worst of it. He had pinned Colwill from the first whistle, football.london reports, then grabbed the defender’s collar and darted towards the byline, almost ripping the shirt off his back. Brobbey clipped his own ankle and went down, but referee Jarred Gillett pointed to the spot and VAR did not overturn the decision.

Colwill was booked, and he was taken off at half-time, with Estêvão replacing him and Moisés Caicedo dropping into defence. It was a harsh end to a half in which Colwill had been man-handled from the start, and the decision set the tone for everything that followed. Vinicius was sent off for a hair pull of his own earlier in the season, and the pattern of a defender being punished for a grapple he did not start is one Chelsea will feel they have seen before.

Why was the penalty so controversial?

Because the replays made the foul look like it went the other way. Brobbey had a handful of Colwill’s shirt in the build-up, BCE Football News reports, and the defender argued, not without justification, that he had been pulled himself. The award stood anyway, and Le Fée sent Mike Penders the wrong way from the spot.

It was not the only call Chelsea disputed. Cole Palmer went down in the first half and thought he had won a penalty, but the video assistant referee ruled that Luke O’Nien’s challenge had taken place outside the area, football.london reports. Two borderline calls, both going against the same team, is why the game will be remembered as a refereeing row as much as a result. Gravenberch’s red card split the verdicts in the same way earlier in the season, with one yellow looking harsh and the second looking clear.

What happened between Brobbey and Lavia?

The second half brought a running battle. Brobbey was cautioned for wrestling Lavia to the ground, BCE Football News reports, describing it as a continuation of an ongoing feud between the pair. A clip of Brobbey ripping at Lavia’s shirt during the game spread widely online, and the booking left him a foul away from a second yellow. Micky Mellon was charged by the FA for headbutting a player on the touchline, which shows how quickly a physical confrontation can turn into a disciplinary case when it happens in front of the officials.

Brobbey had already missed two good chances before the penalty, volleying wide from a Chemsdine Talbi cross and then clipping another effort over the bar, football.london reports. He also chased Wesley Fofana from the halfway line back into the box before trying to chip Penders. When Le Bris replaced him with Wilson Isidor midway through the second half, Chelsea must have been relieved, such was the battering their defence had taken from him.

What did the win mean for Sunderland?

It was their second league win of the season and their first since August 30, talkSPORT reports, and it lifted them off the foot of the table, even though they remain in the bottom three. The win also eased the pressure on head coach Régis Le Bris, whose side had lost at home to Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League on Thursday.

The context made it sweeter. Sunderland had beaten Chelsea on the final day of last season in May to secure European qualification for the first time in 53 years, BCE Football News reports, and they did it again on Sunday with a patched-up defence missing the injured Dan Ballard and the banned Omar Alderete. Captain Granit Xhaka lasted less than three minutes before injury, and only three players survived the team changes from the Zagreb game. The equaliser row at Villa Park showed how quickly a result can turn into a managerial story, and Le Bris will be glad this one turned into three points instead.

What did it mean for Chelsea?

Chelsea dropped out of the top four, and the defeat was their fourth in the league this season, talkSPORT reports. They have now lost three of their last four matches in all competitions, and they were blunt for most of the afternoon, with a Palmer header from a Malo Gusto cross about as good as it got. They were also without striker Joao Pedro for a fourth consecutive game as he recovers from a thigh injury.

The club’s own account of the game will centre on the two penalty calls, but the performance gave Xabi Alonso plenty to think about during the international break. Brennan Johnson’s disallowed goal at Hull turned on a similarly subjective call, and the weekend produced a set of decisions that left more than one club feeling wronged.

Why did Sunderland troll Jason Cundy?

Because Cundy handed them the line himself. The talkSPORT host and Chelsea fan is famed for his “Has anyone seen?” taunt on The Sports Bar, talkSPORT reports, usually aimed at co-host Jamie O’Hara whenever Tottenham lose. After the win, Sunderland posted a celebratory full-time picture on X captioned “HAAAAAAAS ANYONE SEEN”, and the roles were reversed for once.

Cundy was not the only talkSPORT host to catch a stray from a Premier League club that weekend, talkSPORT notes. Fellow host O’Hara was trolled by Leeds after they beat his beloved Tottenham 1-0 at Elland Road on Saturday, with the club tweeting “GOOOOOOOOOOD WIN THAT”. The international break gives both hosts a fortnight to hear about it.