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Chelsea forward Diego Costa has been charged for violent in Saturday’s London derby against Arsenal, according to a statement released by the English Football Association. The FA also charged both clubs for failure to control their players and particularly called up Gabriel Paulista for improper conduct.
During the game, the Spanish striker was seen swinging his hands at Laurent Koscielny and catching him in the face on two occasions and immediately after bumping him on the chest after a tussle between he two left Costa on the ground. Paulista who came to the defence of his Arsenal team-mate would then get embroiled in a battle of words with the Chelsea striker and eventually would be sent off for what appeared to be a kick at Costa.
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Though the former Atletico Madrid man did not receive punishment on the pitch for his actions, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger opined that he should have been sent off as well. The striker now has until Tuesday to respond to the FA’s charge. The punishment to the Chelsea man seems to be primarily for the off the ball incident with Koscielny.
In addition to Costa, Gabriel has also been charged with “improper conduct for his behaviour following his dismissal”. But he wasn’t the only Arsenal player mentioned in the FA’s statement, Santi Cazorla has also been warned for his role on the day. The Spanish midfielder was also sent off in the game after receiving 2 yellow cards in each half against the Blues.
Both clubs will also have to answer charges of failing to control their players under FA Rule E20. While Costa has time only till Tuesday, both clubs and Gabriel must respond before Thursday to the FA’s charges.
The process of decision making in the case was stated int he FA’s statement, that read, “Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite referees.
“Each referee panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence. For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision by the panel must be unanimous.”
While there has been no talk of the punishment that will be meted out for each party involved, Diego Costa is likely to face a 3-match ban that is the minimum a player usually serves for violent conduct. Meanwhile, Arsenal are reportedly set to appeal Gabriel Paulista’s ban for three games resulting from the straight red shown to him by referee Mike Dean.
The announcement from the FA comes ahead of both teams beginning their Capital One Cup campaigns. Arsenal face Tottenham in their first game while Chelsea will begin their title defence in the competition against Walsall. If Diego Costa’s imminent ban is enforced on Tuesday then it will be the first game he misses for the defending champions.
