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Chelsea should appeal Courtois red, insists Mark Halsey

There is room for doubt in Michael Oliver's decision to send off the Belgian while Martin Atkinson and Anthony Taylor got their key calls right.

Jose Mourinho should appeal the red card given to Thibaut Courtois for bringing down Bafetimbi Gomis during Chelsea's opening-day draw with Swansea City - he has nothing to lose.

The penalty was clear but whether or not to issue a red card was a very difficult decision for Michael Oliver, who is a talented young referee. He has to judge whether an obvious goal-scoring opportunity has been denied, so when the incident occurs he's got to consider a number of factors in a matter of seconds: the distance to the goal, the likelihood of Gomis keeping control of the ball, the direction of play and the location and number of defenders in close proximity.