“Only Everton: Midfielder Gets Sent Off After Slapping His Own Teammate in the Face”

Analysis by Hikaru Sakamoto

Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye became just the fourth player in Premier League history to be sent off for a clash with one of his own teammates, according to Metro.

The incident happened in the 13th minute of Everton’s 1–0 win over Manchester United on the 24th.
Gueye got into a heated argument with defender Michael Keane, and things escalated quickly.
Keane gave Gueye a shove, and Gueye responded by slapping Keane across the face, leaving the referee with no hesitation — straight red card.

Sky Sports reports that dismissals caused by teammates fighting each other are extremely rare, with only three previous cases.

The most famous one came in 2005, when Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were both sent off after literally trading punches during Newcastle’s match.
In 2008, Ricardo Fuller of Stoke City was also dismissed for slapping his captain Andy Griffin in the face.
In all these cases, the players involved were reportedly on good terms off the pitch — emotions simply boiled over in the moment.

The Bigger Picture

This match will not be remembered for tactical nuance or refereeing debate. What lingered instead was a sense of absurdity — the kind that only football, and particularly the Premier League, seems capable of producing.

From the fans’ perspective, the incident was shocking but not incomprehensible. High pressure, cumulative frustration, and a single mistake can turn a routine exchange into something far more volatile. What stood out was not simply that teammates clashed, but that the chaos unfolded in full view, at full speed, with no ambiguity about its severity.

Yet the wider reaction suggests something deeper. Among supporters watching this unfold, the emotional focus drifted quickly away from discipline and toward irony. The red card became a subplot. The real story, in their eyes, was how a match that appeared statistically one-sided ended in defeat anyway. In that disconnect — between control and outcome — fans found both disbelief and dark humor.

Fan Reactions

United Fans

• He slapped his own teammate and got a straight red.
• He literally smacked his own teammate. Full swing. No review needed.
• Credit to the Everton keeper though — the guy pulling them apart was the real MVP.
• The slap sound was wild. You could hear it clearly. No surprise it was a red.
• That wasn’t just arguing, it was straight-up violent conduct. And United still managed to lose. That’s the funniest part.
• Fighting your own teammate during the match? Peak Premier League chaos.
• To be fair, Keane shoved him first. A bigger guy pushing you like that? Hard to just walk away. Still can’t slap someone in the face though.
• Honestly Keane deserves some blame. Gueye getting all the punishment feels harsh.
• Everton always has one player with completely unhinged energy. Barton would be proud.
• Probably happened right after a near-disastrous mistake. Adrenaline plus frustration, and someone snaps.
• Everton winning made the whole thing even funnier. United really said “hold my beer.”

Everton Fans

• United losing is the real comedy here. This club never disappoints.
• Reminded me instantly of Bowyer vs Dyer. Of course people brought it up.
• Bowyer… good memories. Back when the league was pure chaos.
• Players lose their head in the heat of the moment. Even the calm ones snap.
• United losing makes it ten times funnier. That’s the real punchline.
• Wait… United actually lost?
• Both players share blame. Shoving is tolerated, slapping isn’t? Come on.
• The stats are unreal: 70% possession, 25 shots, higher xG — and they still lost.
• Conceding after the red card with those numbers is embarrassing.
• Fun fact: Everton’s coach is Moyes — the guy who once took United to seventh. History repeating itself.
• Twenty-five shots for that xG just means they were wasteful.
• People keep forgetting Keane shoved him first.
• The age breakdown makes it even funnier when you think about it.
• Was it really the defender’s mistake though? Or was the pass terrible?
• How do you lose to a team that’s self-destructing in real time?
• Fans waving goodbye to the red-carded player was elite trolling.
• And then they lost. United comedy never stops.
• Didn’t even know teammates slapping each other could get you sent off. Apparently yes.
• Ten men, and Everton still won.
• Win or lose, United always deliver entertainment.
• United at home, Everton down to ten men, and they still lost. That’s the real story.
• The “other Manchester” club never fails to make people laugh.
• Honestly, letting it play on might’ve helped United more.
• The funniest part of all? Everton won the match.

What Remains 

What remains after the final whistle is not just relief, but a quieter set of questions.

Everton did what mattered most. They endured, adapted, and found a way to win under circumstances that could easily have collapsed into chaos. From a purely competitive standpoint, the job was done. Three points were secured. The table was climbed. The night will be remembered as a victory.

Yet the incident that shaped the match refuses to disappear entirely.

The slap, the red card, the moment of internal fracture — it was absorbed in the glow of a hard-earned win, quickly reframed as dark humor or an anecdote to laugh about later. But beneath the jokes sits a reminder that this was not just an opponent undone, but a team briefly undone from within.

In surviving that moment, Everton showed resilience. In needing to survive it at all, they revealed something more fragile.

The result will stand. The points will count. But what remains is the sense that this victory, for all its value, also carried a warning — that the margins between defiance and dysfunction remain uncomfortably thin.

Source:
Sky News: “Everton player sent off after clashing with his own teammate”
https://news.sky.com/story/everton-player-sent-off-after-clashing-with-his-own-teammate-13475066?utm_source=chatgpt.com