Newcastle United manager John Carver accused defender Mike Williamson of getting sent off deliberately in his side’s eighth successive Premier League defeat at Leicester City on Saturday.
Williamson was dismissed just after the hour mark when he collected a second yellow card for a late challenge on Leicester’s Jamie Vardy on the touchline in the 60th minute.
He was followed off the pitch by Daryl Janmaat, who was sent off in injury time as Newcastle went down 3-0 thanks to two goals, the second a penalty, from Leonardo Ulloa and one from Wes Morgan.
“I thought he meant it,” Carver said of Williamson. “When the ball went onto that left-hand side, my first reaction, five yards before making the tackle, was ‘Don’t do it’ – and he did it.
“Vardy was off the pitch, Willo was off the pitch, the ball was off the pitch. There was no need to do it. I am not accepting that, especially in the situation we are in.”
Asked why Williamson might have done something like that on purpose, Carver said: “I don’t really know. It was just my thought when it happened. I thought he meant that and I have told him so. I have actually said this to his face.”
Newcastle, who dropped to 15th in the table, are now two points above the drop zone with three games remaining, while Leicester, who have now won five of their past six games, are a point behind in 17th place, with Hull City, who play Arsenal on Monday, in 16th place.
Sunderland remain in the bottom three in 18th place but gave themselves hope of escaping the drop as they beat 10-man Southampton 2-1 thanks to two penalties from Jordi Gomez, the second of which came after James Ward-Prowse had been sent off for felling Jermain Defoe.
Dick Advocaat, the Sunderland manager, said: “Everything is still open. We have still everything in our own hands, and that’s the most important thing.”
Two goals in the first half from Christian Benteke set Aston Villa up for a 3-2 win over Everton to move them into 14th, though thanks to Sunderland’s win they also remain only two points clear of the relegation zone.
Last-place side Burnley’s hopes of staying up appear to be at an end as they lost 1-0 at West Ham United thanks to Mark Noble’s penalty, and they are eight points adrift of safety.
Burnley had Michael Duff sent off for fouling Cheikhou Kouyate to give away the spot-kick and a frustrated Dyche said of the red card: “It ruined the game and has given us an absolute mountain to do what we need to do.
Elsewhere, the mid-table clash between Swansea City and Stoke City went Swansea’s way 2-0 thanks to goals from Jefferson Montero and Ki Sung-yueng.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
