Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson incident under scrutiny after Nottingham Forest draw
Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest on Sunday featured a controversial incident involving striker Nicolas Jackson in the closing moments of the match.
Former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher has suggested that VAR could not review the altercation due to the unavailability of a specific camera angle at the time. He indicated that the Football Association may take further action now that this alternate footage has surfaced.
Nottingham Forest was already down to 10 men after James Ward-Prowse received a second yellow card for handling the ball to halt a Chelsea counterattack.
The situation escalated when Neco Williams collided with Marc Cucurella near the Chelsea bench, leading to a series of yellow cards from referee Chris Kavanagh—one issued to Williams, another to Cucurella, and a third to Levi Colwill for his involvement.
The newly available angle reportedly shows a confrontation between Jackson and Brazilian defender Morato. Gallagher explained that the angle of the alleged incident was not presented to the Video Assistant Referees during the match, leaving the FA to determine if any further actions are warranted.
He elaborated on the challenges referees face during such incidents, stating, “If you get in the middle of it, you have two problems: you’re at risk of being struck yourself if the player strikes you, and secondly, you can see who comes in as an aggressor and who comes in as a peacemaker. There’s a lot of mileage in standing back to pick out what you can.”
Gallagher concluded by noting that since the incident was not reviewed by VAR at the time, it falls to the FA to decide the next steps regarding Jackson’s situation.
Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson incident under scrutiny after Nottingham Forest draw
