Matt Ritchie's boot on Alfie Mawson was incredibly similar to that of Sadio Mane on Ederson apart from the way the Newcastle man made contact... he surely had to be sent off

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Newcastle United's Matt Ritchie was awarded a yellow card for a high boot on Swansea City's Alfie Mawson during Sunday's Premier League fixture at the Liberty Stadium.

Comparisons were immediately drawn with Sadio Mane's high boot that connected with Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson on Saturday. The Liverpool man was sent off for his challenge.

Here, Sportsmail's expert referee Graham Poll and former striker Chris Sutton explain why Ritchie should have been sent off.

Matt Ritchie committed the high foot offence when challenging Alfie Mawson for the ball 

GRAHAM POLL 

When Matt Ritchie flew in with a high boot towards Alfie Mawson you could see he was clearly worried which colour of card Mike Jones would produce — no doubt after Sadio Mane's red card the day before.

The aerial challenge was incredibly similar apart from the contact on Mawson, who should be applauded for his calm reaction to the incident.

Jones showed a yellow card, which I think was because he thought there was no contact. Had he seen contact, which was made on the Swansea player's forearm, then a red card would have had to be shown as the challenge certainly endangered the safety of Mawson.

Sadio Mane was shown a red card after his high-boot caught goalkeeper Ederson in the face

Mawson's honesty was in stark contrast to the action of Mikel Merino, who produced an outrageous dive in the first half to try to win Newcastle a penalty. Jones was not deceived but was again unsure and so did not caution the Spaniard for simulation.

There can be no retrospective action by the FA as the new law they introduced is only applied after 'successful deception of a match official' and Merino was not successful.

That seems a pity as his act was disgraceful and merited the two-match ban. 

The Newcastle midfielder was travelling at speed as he raised his boot towards Mawson's head

CHRIS SUTTON 

Jurgen Klopp will be going bonkers when he sees the replay of Matt Ritchie’s high foot. Or maybe he will use it to get Sadio Mane’s red card overturned. He will surely think about an appeal today.

Ritchie’s high foot was a very similar incident, but there were two different decisions and two different punishments.

Newcastle’s Ritchie gets away with a yellow card and his team win 1-0 away from home — Mane gets a red, his team play with 10 men, then he gets a three-game ban! How is that correct?

You could argue that Ritchie’s was worse than Mane’s because it wasn’t in a goalscoring area. Mane made the challenge because he had to. His job is to score goals and this was a one-on-one opportunity against Manchester City.

The inconsistency is what infuriates everyone in the game.

If one is red — and I don’t believe it was — the other should be, too. Within 24 hours, we have seen the decision-making of referees exposed. Mike Jones didn’t see the Ritchie tackle in the same light, but how can that be fair to Mane and Liverpool? 

Defender Mawson appeared to be fine after the incident as the boot just glanced past his face

Referee Mike Jones gave just a yellow, a day after Sadio Mane was sent off for a similar offence

MATT RITCHIE

'I had visions of Match of the Day. It was the same as yesterday's (Mane's) to be honest. I just had my eye on the ball and I think he did come a bit lower than the one yesterday and I was delighted to see it was a yellow card. There was no intent. I didn't really see it to be honest (Mawson's reaction). I looked straight around to see what the referee was doing and lucky enough it was a yellow card.'