Chelsea midfield star Moises Caicedo has been accused of drawing comparisons to Declan Rice before the Blues’ Premier League clash with Arsenal
Chelsea star Moises Caicedo has drawn comparisons to Declan Rice in his head, according to Jamie Carragher. The £115m midfielder was sent off in Enzo Maresca’s side’s draw with the Blues and Arsenal.
Both players made big-money moves in the summer of 2023, after Arsenal had a high bid rejected by Brighton in January of the previous year. Since then, both have established themselves as top players in the Premier League.
Leading up to the matchup, part of the story involved who the best midfielders in the division are at the moment. And Carragher believes that played a role in Caicedo’s performance on Sunday.
For 38 minutes, the Ecuadorian international covered a lot of defensive ground and looked to trouble his opponents. But even before that poor challenge on Mikel Merino, it was clear he was playing on the edge.
Anthony Taylor was only given a yellow card until VAR intervened. Despite Caicedo’s surprise, there can be little debate about the resulting red color.
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“He was in great spirits,” Carragher said. “I think you could see that right from the start of the game. I think the Rice vs. Caicedo thing this week probably got to him, and rightly so.”
“In an important game, he ends up getting involved in a challenge. Yes, it’s a red card, but it’s stupid to get involved in a tackle like that. He doesn’t need that.”
“He’s a great player. He wins the ball back well, but I think he tends to look clumsy from certain angles. I’m very surprised that this is his first red card.”
“I also remember the challenge against (Ryan) Gravenbirch in the Carabao Cup final a few years ago. Not because he’s a mean player, but that was a really good example. He had to face his own goal to win the challenge. Basically he had someone coming up behind him so he didn’t have to get involved.”
“He has to be careful about that. He’s a great player but he definitely needs to learn from it. If he comes out and says this is a definite red card, the manager will talk to him and it’s really good to hear that.”
Chelsea manager Maresca was not unhappy with Caicedo being shown red, but was puzzled as to why his side had not benefited in a similar situation. “That’s a red card,” he said.
“But when we were away at Spurs, why wasn’t Bentancur a red card against Leith? So as a manager, it’s hard to understand why they would take a different decision. Moises is a red card, yes. Bentancur is also a red card, yes. Why don’t they give him a red card? That’s the only thing we’re struggling to understand.”
“In reality, it was a red card. But why would they take a different decision? And when I asked the referee about Trevor, he said it wasn’t an elbow. That’s why they said:[His]eye was black and it was covered in ice at half-time. But they make a different decision.”
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