Chelsea are to appeal against an English Football Association charge of failing to control their players, the second such during Avram Grant's brief reign, for their reaction to Michael Essien's stoppage-time dismissal at Derby County on Saturday.
Grant claimed last night that he attached "no blame" to his players who, led by the England captain John Terry, had surrounded the referee, Andrew Marriner, following Essien's red card. The Ghanaian had been penalised for flinging an arm at Kenny Miller, with his appeal rejected by a regulatory commission yesterday and a three-match ban confirmed.
However, the Chelsea manager suggested he will contact the FA personally, concerned his team are being targeted unfairly by referees.
Essien was the third player to be sent off in Grant's nine Premiership matches, following the red cards shown to Didier Drogba against Fulham and Mikel John Obi at Manchester United. The players' furious reaction to that decision prompted a €42,000 fine from the FA, and a warning.
The club have until December 12th to appeal against this charge but will be braced for greater financial punishment this time, though the manager remains sympathetic with his players.
"I don't blame the players for questioning the referee as the decision was unfair," the Israeli said of Essien's dismissal. "They did it in the right way going to the referee. For 30 seconds they said something and then the game continued. What's wrong with this? They didn't do anything wrong. I'm thinking about speaking to the FA, but I want to do it in a positive way. We need to do something. There are some good referees in England also - not all the referees are the same, but I don't know why we are being targeted. All I know are the facts.
"The (referee's) hand is on the whistle too easily against us. All the red cards we've had have been too easy. They were not red cards. Essien can't put his hands in his pocket, so what could he do? He did nothing and it was not a sending off.
"It was the same at United and against Fulham. It's too easy to get a red card playing for Chelsea. I see other matches where the same things happens with other players and they don't get a red card."
There was something of the Jose Mourinho about that outburst, though Grant will hope his side perform more impressively against Rosenborg than the Portuguese's final Chelsea line-up did in the drawn home fixture in September.
Grant's squad, still denied the injured Petr Cech but with Drogba restored, arrived to find the west coast of Norway swathed in snow. Temperatures will plummet at kick-off, with Rosenborg, whose league season finished on November 3rd but still this group's surprise contenders following successive wins over Valencia - Steffen Iversen, formerly of Spurs, getting both goals in their 2-0 win at the Mestalla - likely to prove stubborn opponents despite finishing a disappointing fifth in the domestic league.
Chelsea need two points from their final two games to be to progress to the knock-out stage, though a draw here would suffice if Schalke fail to win at Valencia.
The conditions will not be helpful, but there is belief welling that Grant might just succeed where Mourinho came up short and claim their first European Cup.
"This competition is important. Arsenal reached the final once and that made them a bigger club than before. Chelsea have not even been in a final yet, so that is our target.
