Additional Punishment For Man City And Chelsea

 

The FA have charged Manchester City and Chelsea with failure to control their players during Saturday's game at the Etihad Stadium.  The Premier League-leading Blues secured a crucial 3-1 win in the lunchtime clash, which boiled over in the closing stages when City forward Sergio Aguero was red carded for an ugly challenge on David Luiz.

The incident led to a melee involving several players from both sides and City midfielder Fernandinho was dismissed for his role in the scuffle. Both clubs have until 6pm on December 8 to respond to the charge. Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas will not face any further action for his part in the incident which led to Fernandinho being dismissed for pushing the Spanish midfielder. Fabregas was shown a yellow card by referee Anthony Taylor following the melee, for adopting an aggressive attitude, but his apparent slap of Fernandinho was not seen, so it could be reviewed by the panel. Fernandinho will serve a three-match ban.

Aguero has already been handed a four-match suspension for his sending-off, his second dismissal for violent conduct this season - the first having been issued retrospectively after he was adjudged to have elbowed West Ham's Winston Reid in August.

An FA statement read “Both Manchester City and Chelsea have been charged for failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative behaviour. It follows an incident in the 95th minute of the game on Saturday (December 3, 2016). Meanwhile, Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas will not face any further action in relation to an incident involving City's Fernandinho. Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite referees. Each referee panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence. For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision of the panel must be unanimous.”