West Ham forward Mohammed Kudus was sent off after taking out three Tottenham players in a matter of seconds in an extraordinary meltdown in the London derby.
Kudus fired West Ham into the lead in the first half but the Hammers imploded after the break, conceding three goals in a seven-minute collapse to trail 4-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Ghana international appeared to kick out twice at Micky van de Ven after the Spurs defender fell onto the ball, sparking the melee in which Kudus would lose his head.
Kudus then pushed his hands into Van de Ven’s face, with the Dutchman falling over after the impact. At the same moment, Kudus accidentally brushed into Richarlison, who went down holding his face as well.
To make matters worse, Kudus then pushed his hands into the face of Spurs midfielder Pape Mate Sarr, in an incident that was initially missed by the on-field referee Andrew Madley.
At first, Kudus and Van de Ven were both booked but the VAR recommended an on-field review for Madley. After checking the monitor and seeing the Sarr shove, Kudus was sent off.
The initial yellow card was taken off and Kudus was shown a straight red – meaning that he will miss West Ham’s next three games against Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Everton.
The scoreline remained the same after West Ham went down to 10 men, but it leaves Julen Lopetegui’s side with just two wins from their first eight games of the Premier League season.
