Sports
We need to talk about hair pulling. Plus: Big wins for Arsenal and Tottenham
The Athletic FC 
Hello! The Premier League isn’t good at keeping its hair on. And it’s found something new to fight about.
Coming up:
Pulling power: Why was Ballard’s tug on Arokodare’s hair a red-card offence?
Tolu Arokodare, the Wolverhampton Wanderers striker, is going to develop a complex at this rate. Twice this season, he’s been the victim of red-card offences — as a result of opponents pulling his hair.
Arokodare has long dreadlocks, meaning he’s more susceptible to having his hair pulled than many others (more susceptible than me, it’s fair to say) but, unintentionally, he’s at the forefront of a hot debate in the Premier League. Should hair-pulling constitute violent conduct? And why, from nowhere, has it become a thing in 2025-26?
Recently, it’s been causing friction in both the men’s and the women’s games. Earlier this month, Chelsea Women’s head coach Sonia Bompastor took umbrage with Arsenal’s Katie McCabe tugging the locks of Alyssa Thompson during a Champions League tie. On that occasion, VAR didn’t want to know. But while pulling hair would seem more likely in women’s football, the Premier League is where it’s becoming a real bone of contention.
Sunderland’s Dan Ballard was sent off on Saturday for that crime against Arokodare, dismissed in the 24th minute of a 1-1 draw with Wolves at Molineux. In January, Everton’s Michael Keane incurred a red card for exactly the same transgression against exactly the same player, and failed with an appeal against his dismissal. Likewise, Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez had a red card upheld after pulling the hair of Leeds United’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin at Old Trafford three weeks ago.
Michael Carrick, United’s caretaker head coach, called Martinez’s punishment “one of the worst” decisions he’d seen — and football is struggling to accept that hair-pulling ought to be judged as violent conduct (and therefore subject to a three-game ban), particularly if it’s not flagrantly intentional. Having barely been a point of discussion before, we’re experiencing something of an epidemic this year.
Phil Buckingham outlined the relevant laws of the game for us and while hair-pulling isn’t specifically referenced within them, referees and VAR reviews are taking a dim view of it. The dial was turned up after Tottenham Hotspur’s Cristian Romero yanked back Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella by his sizeable mane in 2022, a foul that went unpunished at the time but one which that game’s VAR Mike Dean later admitted should have been reviewed.
Howard Webb, the man in charge of England’s match officials, reckons hair-pulling “crosses the line”. “There’s absolutely no reason to do that,” he has said. “People don’t want to see it happening.” And in principle, he’s right. But in the heat of battle, when defenders and forwards are scuffling for possession and high balls, it’s a contentious grey area and an offence which the sport’s lawmakers might soon have to specifically define. As Sunderland’s head coach Regis Le Bris said on Saturday: “The execution of the rule is very hard to digest” — meaning nobody quite knows where they stand.
News round-up
Lionel Messi with George Russell (left) and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Photo: Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
- Inter Miami are still waiting for that elusive first win at their new stadium. The MLS champions raced into a three-goal lead after 33 minutes against Orlando City on Saturday, but then collapsed to a 4-3 defeat. At least Lionel Messi had time to attend the Miami Grand Prix (above) yesterday.
- Vancouver Whitecaps, meanwhile, ended a turbulent week with a 1-1 draw at LA Galaxy. Joshua Kloke summed up the mood with the threat to the MLS franchise’s future intensifying.
- Inter took the Serie A title last night, having been champions-elect for weeks. Barcelona need a point to wrap up La Liga’s crown, which they could do during El Clasico at home against Real Madrid next Sunday. Convenient timing.
- Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, 84, was taken to hospital before the club’s match with Liverpool yesterday. It wasn’t a medical emergency, however, and he has since been discharged.
- Newcastle United are backing head coach Eddie Howe. He’ll remain in charge next season, despite the club drifting to 13th place in the Premier League.
- This generated plenty of headlines on Friday: Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler revealing that he had called on the services of an MMA fighter to help his team defend set pieces. Certain boxes can resemble a royal rumble, to be fair.
Big steps: Tottenham’s crucial win in relegation scrap, Arsenal six points clear
Hope springs eternal for Tottenham Hotspur, courtesy of Aston Villa throwing themselves to the wolves. West Ham United must have facepalmed when they saw Unai Emery weakening his line-up with seven changes for yesterday’s game in Birmingham — and double-facepalmed when they saw the state of Villa’s performance.
Emery is, it seems, prioritising Villa’s Europa League semi-final against Nottingham Forest, the second leg of which takes place this Thursday. Satisfaction and silverware lie that way, but the natives at Villa Park are extremely restless, and Spurs’ 2-1 win there last night could have a huge bearing on the Premier League’s relegation battle. Tottenham are now out of the bottom three amid a desperate fight to make the best of their underwhelming resources.
Also in the top flight over the weekend:
- Arsenal’s simple 3-0 rout of Fulham on Saturday was a serious step towards the title. Bukayo Saka is back, and there’s huge pressure on Manchester City, who lie six points adrift with two games in hand (the first of them away to Everton tonight). Art de Roché is asking whether it’s better to chase or be chased in these circumstances. I’d take Arsenal’s position all day long.
- Manchester United have qualified for the Champions League, which is mission accomplished for Michael Carrick. They got there yesterday by beating visitors Liverpool who, frankly, will be slightly fortunate to make Europe’s top competition themselves. Coach Arne Slot moaned about VAR but his problems lie much closer to home.
- In a former life, I spent my time covering Leeds United home and away. I went back to Elland Road on Friday to see the club all but sew up Premier League survival. Manager Daniel Farke deserves his flowers.
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“Rob Edwards, you’re a w****r” coming from Wolves’ home support suggests to me that he’s in a bit of trouble there after relegation. In the face of such mutinous fan behaviour, will the Molineux board stick or twist?
Wrexham dream dies: Welsh club miss out on play-offs as Ipswich return to Premier League
Josh Windass of Wrexham looks dejected (Photo: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Finally, we’ve discovered Wrexham’s ceiling (for now, at least). They fell short of the Championship play-offs on Saturday, drawing 2-2 with Middlesbrough at home and finishing seventh, and they’ve now got a long summer in which to rue a couple of big chances that went begging for them late on.
Ipswich Town, however, made good their return to the Premier League, and there were heartwarming scenes at Sheffield Wednesday, where misery had abounded from almost the first kick of the season to the last.
Wednesday, after multiple points deductions, had no other target to aim for than avoiding the humiliation of a negative final tally — and they got to zero by beating West Bromwich Albion 2-1. More than that, it was announced before kick-off that they’d secured new ownership. And better still, that the EFL has waived a further 15-point penalty which might have been imposed on them in League One next term.
Before the West Brom game, the club used their scoreboard to count down the potential deduction and reveal they had dodged it completely. They wouldn’t ever want to experience a repeat of the past 12 months — but equally, they won’t forget this campaign in a hurry.
Around TAFC
“We have never had a situation where a World Cup host has effectively declared war on one of the participating nations.”
Adam Leventhal presents World Cup and War, a special podcast episode looking at what happens now after the break out of the conflict in the Middle East.
— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) May 3, 2026
Catch a match
Selected games (times ET/UK)
Premier League: Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest, 10am/3pm; Everton vs Manchester City, 3pm/8pm — both USA Network/Sky Sports.
Scottish Premiership: Heart of Midlothian vs Rangers, 12.30pm/5.30pm — CBS, Fubo/Sky Sports.
La Liga: Sevilla vs Real Sociedad, 3pm/8pm — ESPN, Fubo/Premier Sports.
Serie A: Roma vs Fiorentina, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Paramount+, Fubo, DAZN/DAZN.
And finally…
The weekend’s telling-it-like-it-is award goes to Richie Wellens, the boss of League One side Leyton Orient.
His squad dodged relegation by a narrow margin and Wellens laid it on them in a brilliant, no-nonsense post-match interview, describing his players as “embarrassing” and “really, really weak”. “I’ve had one year of my managerial career wasted,” he said, and if the east London club intend to stand by him, it’s safe to assume that certain members of their dressing room will be exiting stage left soon.
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