Hugo Ekitike will be suspended as Premier League leaders Liverpool take on Crystal Palace this weekend, after picking up a ‘stupid’ red card on Tuesday.
Liverpool faced Southampton in the League Cup on Tuesday night, and it was a very close game. The away side hit the woodwork and missed a near open goal just seconds before Alexander Isak gave the hosts the lead, and a Shea Charles 76th-minute equaliser sparked a dramatic finish.
Fortunately for the Premier League side, Federico Chiesa laid it on a plate for Hugo Ekitike to score a tap-in for the winner in the 85th minute, but the striker clearly forgot he was on a yellow card as he took his shirt off in celebration.
The centre-forward was promptly dismissed by the referee, and he’ll now serve a one-match ban away to Crystal Palace this weekend. Whilst yellow-card suspensions don’t carry across competitions, red-card bans do, including indirect red cards (for two yellows in one game).
“It is not [stupid] because it was his second [yellow] – it’s stupid even if you haven’t had a yellow card yet,” Arne Slot said afterwards.
“If I went past three players and put it in the top corner then maybe you can say: ‘This is all about me.’ But if I scored a goal like he did tonight, I would turn to Chiesa and say: ‘It’s about you Federico – great assist, great run and I didn’t have to do a lot.’
“It was stupid, not smart in every sense. The good thing is that his team-mates helped him to get the win over the line, but the thing is he is now suspended for Saturday and that is far from ideal.”
As mentioned, Liverpool now travel to Crystal Palace without Ekitike, with Palace having made one of the best starts in the league.
Opta Analyst rank Palace as having the highest expected points in the division, based on their performances so far. The team have underperformed against that metric, but they remain unbeaten with two wins and three draws. They won’t be an easy three points.
Ekitike was apologetic on social media, writing on his Instagram story: “The emotion got the better of me tonight. My apologies to all the Red family, thanks to the fans who always support us and to my teammates for [securing] this victory!”