According to reports, during Fulham’s match against Bournemouth in the Premier League, Ryan Sessegnon was forced to leave the pitch in the 57th minute due to an unusual substitution error, even though he was not supposed to be substituted. Bournemouth had scored the winning goal just 53 seconds into the game, prompting Fulham to bring on Adama Traoré, Raúl Jiménez, and Tom Cairney in an attempt to change the result. These three players replaced Ryan Sessegnon, Sander Berge, and Rodrigo Muniz.

The substitution process took over five minutes, leading referee Michael Oliver to intervene and assess the situation. It has now been revealed that Fulham did not intend to substitute Sessegnon but had no choice, and the player had to leave the field. Marco Silva was furious about the mistake and vehemently protested to the fourth official, Tim Robinson, though it remains unclear which player was originally supposed to replace Sessegnon.

According to Premier League rules, once a player leaves the pitch—even before the substitution is completed—they are not allowed to return to the game. A Sky Sports reporter said: “The substitution card with Ryan Sessegnon’s name was given to the referee. However, based on our information from Fulham’s technical bench, he was not supposed to be substituted.”

Ultimately, Silva’s substitutions failed to change the result, and Fulham lost the match. Bournemouth, with this victory, overtook Fulham to move into eighth place in the Premier League table. This win marked Bournemouth’s first victory in nine matches across all competitions, reigniting their hopes of securing a Europa Conference League qualification spot.