Chelsea and West Ham United have both been charged by the Football Association for failing to control their players in Saturday’s Premier League game.
Chelsea's late 3-2 win against the Hammers descended into chaos after a huge brawl broke out in stoppage time. It all started when Joao Pedro reacted to Adama Traore's shove on Marc Cucurella, with both sets of players coming together in ugly scenes.
West Ham's Jean-Clair Todibo was then shown a straight red card by referee Anthony Taylor for grabbing Joao Pedro by the neck in the wild melee after a lengthy VAR check. Announcing his decision to the stadium, Taylor said: "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."
Jean-Clair Todibo after he was sent off against Chelsea
Jean-Clair Todibo after he was sent off against Chelsea (Image: (Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images))
And now the FA has confirmed that both clubs have been charged, as Chelsea’s players were “improper and/or provocative”, while West Ham’s players were “improper and/or provocative and/or violent". Both clubs have until Friday to provide 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 game, Chelsea boss 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."
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While West Ham boss 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."
And when asked about Todibo's late red card, Nuno said: "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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