Chelsea charged by FA after mass brawl as West Ham also sanctioned | Football | Sport

Chelsea and West Ham United have both been charged by the Football Association for failing to control their players during last Saturday’s Premier League match. The late 3-2 victory for Chelsea against the Hammers descended into pandemonium after a massive brawl erupted in stoppage time. The chaos was sparked 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 subsequently shown a straight red card by referee Anthony Taylor for grabbing Joao Pedro by the neck in the ensuing fracas, following a lengthy VAR review. Announcing his decision 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.”

The FA has now confirmed that both clubs have been charged, with Chelsea’s players deemed “improper and/or provocative”, while West Ham’s players were “improper and/or provocative and/or violent”. 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,” confirmed an FA statement. “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.”

Post-match, Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior stated: “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 boss Nuno Espirito Santo expressed his disappointment: “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.”

Regarding Todibo’s dismissal in the closing stages, Nuno commented: “It’s strange, with all this confusion, to give only one yellow and one red card. I have to see it again.”