Chelsea and West Ham have both been charged by the FA for failing to control their players during Saturday’s heated Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge, which saw Jean-Clair Todibo sent off for violent conduct
Chelsea and West Ham have both been slapped with charges by the FA for failing to control their players during Saturday’s Premier League showdown.
The Blues’ nail-biting 3-2 victory over the Hammers spiralled into mayhem after a massive brawl erupted in stoppage time. The fracas kicked off when Joao Pedro responded to Adama Traore’s push on Marc Cucurella, leading to an ugly confrontation involving players from both teams.
West Ham’s Jean-Clair Todibo was then given his marching orders by referee Anthony Taylor for grabbing Joao Pedro by the neck in the wild scuffle, following a lengthy VAR review.
Announcing his verdict to the stadium, Taylor stated: “After review, West Ham number 25 grabs Chelsea number 20 round the throat in a violent manner. Therefore my final decision is a red card, violent conduct.”
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The FA has now confirmed that both clubs are facing charges, with Chelsea’s players accused of being “improper and/or provocative”, while West Ham’s players were deemed “improper and/or provocative and/or violent”, reports Football London.
Both clubs have until Friday to submit their respective responses.
“Chelsea FC and West Ham United FC have been charged following their Premier League fixture on Saturday, January 31,” an FA statement confirmed.
“It’s alleged that Chelsea FC failed to ensure its players didn’t behave in an improper and/or provocative way around the 95th minute. West Ham FC allegedly failed to ensure that its players didn’t behave in an improper and/or provocative and/or violent way at the same time. Both clubs have until Friday, 6 February, to provide their respective responses.”
Speaking after the match, Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior said: “I’ll make early changes. It’s no disrespect to the players who came off – they are a massive part of our plans going forward – but I needed to change something because we weren’t good enough.
“The team were tired, we covered high distances against Napoli because I asked them to press in a different way.
“We got back at 5am on Thursday. In training yesterday I kept the lads as light as possible to get energy into their legs. I’m learning too, I’m not the perfect manager.”
Meanwhile, West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo said: “It’s frustrating and sad that this game went away from us.
“The idea is to keep the same, the way we played in the first half. Chelsea were going to react, but we didn’t defend it. Crosses created a lot of problems for us.
“We have to react. This week, it’s about reacting, bouncing back and going again. We started the second half in control. After Chelsea reacted, we could not control it.”
When questioned about Todibo’s sending off, Nuno remarked: “It’s strange, with all this confusion, to give only one yellow and one red card. I have to see it again.”
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