We didn’t have to wait long for the first Premier League talking point of 2017.
With just a few minutes played between Watford and Tottenham at Vicarage Road, the visitors came close to taking the lead.
Christian Eriksen received the ball at the edge of the Watford box, but saw his goal-bound shot charged down by former teammate Étienne Capoue. Immediately, the Dane appealed to referee Michael Oliver for a penalty, claiming that the ball had struck the Frenchman’s arm.
Footage of the incident (which we’re not allowed to show you) proved that the ball did indeed strike an arm…
Not that you’d have suspected that having looked at Capoue’s reaction. For the next couple of seconds, he lay on the floor clutching at his face in what appeared to be a bid to convince the ref that the ball had hit him there and not on his arm.
If that was his intention, it seemed to do the trick as no penalty was given.
Plenty watching were amused by it, however. Some even likened it to that famous Steven Taylor incident a few years back.
Peak Steven Taylor by Capoue there. Hold your face after a blatant handball. Clever.
— Ibrahim Mustapha (@IbrahimMustapha) January 1, 2017
Did anyone else see Etienne Capoue doing some Steven Taylor-esque acting after his handball? Held the face. And sold it very well!👏 #WATTOT
— Robert Summerscales (@robsummerscales) January 1, 2017
https://twitter.com/OfficialSpursNZ/status/815554040138371075
Capoue with probably the worst attempt to pretend as though the ball had hit his face rather than hand. Needs acting classes
— Passenal (@Passenal1) January 1, 2017
LOL @ Capoue clutching his face after that handball. Superb work.
— Dave Tickner (@tickerscricket) January 1, 2017
https://twitter.com/Alex23Bolton/status/815554312474595328
Stuart Alex Singer wasn’t all that amused, to be fair… he was angry and wanted action.
https://twitter.com/stuartsinger72/status/815553763310178305
As the half ticked on, Spurs fans won’t have felt quite as aggrieved by the incident as they did at first. A couple from Harry Kane and another from Dele Alli put them firmly in control at the break.
