Tomas Soucek sent off for accidental elbow: Is this the strangest red card ever?

Tomas Soucek was at the centre of refereeing controversy on Saturday in a goalless draw between Fulham and West Ham in the Premier League.

With the game edging towards a stalemate, referee Mike Dean awarded a foul to Fulham after seeing Tomas Soucek catch Aleksandar Mitrovic at a freekick.

After initially not giving any further punishment, Dean was then urged to look at the incident on the pitchside monitor by VAR Lee Mason.

The replays the referee looked at appeared to show Soucek trying to raise his arm away from Mitrovic before catching him in the head.

The West Ham midfielder immediately apologised for the accident, while Mitrovic got to his feet unhurt some moments later.

However, after looking at replays of the incident for numerous minutes, Dean came out and showed Soucek a red card for violent conduct, sparking criticism from sections of the English media.

"What is happening to our game?" Jamie Redknapp asked on Sky Sports.

"We all love football, but when you see decisions like that... you can blame Mike Dean, VAR, whoever you want. What is he seeing there?

"The fact that Mike Dean went over [to the monitor] and [still] thought it was a red card is a genuine worry for me."