Mousa Dembélé could face a lengthy ban after being charged with violent conduct for appearing to eye gouge Diego Costa during the heated 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham, with both clubs also facing sanctions following the mass brawl at Stamford Bridge.
The FA said of Dembélé that “it is alleged the player’s behaviour constituted violent conduct in circumstances where the standard punishment of three matches that would otherwise apply is clearly insufficient. The player has until 6pm on Thursday to respond to the charge.”
The incidents were not seen the officials but were captured on video during the game. The clubs have until 6pm on Monday to respond to their charges.
Tottenham's title hopes were abruptly ended when Eden Hazard struck late to hand Leicester City the Premier League crown. The referee, Mark Clattenburg, awarded nine yellow cards to Spurs during the match – a Premier League record for a single game – but the officials did not punish Dembélé on the night.
Nor did Clattenburg penalise Mauricio Pochettino when the Tottenham manager encroached on the pitch to separate Danny Rose and Willian. That sparked the melee which resulted in Dembele raising his hand to Costa's face, but there was further controversy to come at full-time.
The Spurs reserve goalkeeper Michel Vorm and the Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fàbregas were in the thick of a brawl involving players, coaches and backroom staff. Guus Hiddink, the Chelsea coach, had to usher Fàbregas down the tunnel before being violently shoved to the ground. H?iddink? said many insults were being thrown in Spanish.
Those booked for Spurs were Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen, Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Dembélé, Lamela, Christian Eriksen, Ryan Mason and Harry Kane. Spurs will receive an automatic fine for having six players or more yellow-carded.
Three Chelsea players made it into the referee's notebook: Branislav Ivanovic, Mikel John Obi and Willian.
The stakes had been raised by Hazard before the game when he said that Chelsea would go all out to stop their London rivals winning the Premier league.
“We don’t want – the fans, the club, the players – Tottenham to win the Premier League, but in football you never know. We hope for Leicester because they deserve to be champions this season, but we will see,” he said. Pochettino, who was sent off 13 times as a centre-back with Espanyol, refused to criticise his players, saying: “It was a derby, we were fighting to win the title and Chelsea were fighting to try and win. We were all involved. When you play for the title and play a big team like Chelsea, they want to win. It was normal emotion, fighting on the pitch is not a good example, for both teams.”
(Guardian services)
