A final day twist for the top tier of English football sees Chelsea face a ‘possible’ points deduction according to reports.
The Blues could be hit with a potential points sanction following the clash with Leicester City players at Stamford Bridge earlier this week.
Both clubs have already been charged with failing to control their players after tempers flared right at the end of the 2-1 win for Thomas Tuchel’s side on Tuesday night.
Players and coaching staff got involved in an angry exchange on the touchline following Ricardo Pereira’s challenge on Ben Chilwell.
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The Mirror reports that “the Blues are in the dock for the SEVENTH time in seven years,” and states the London club’s record is so poor that they were warned in July 2016 that they faced a points deduction after appealing against a £375,000 fine levied against them for their part in a mass bust-up during a game with Tottenham two months earlier.
Since then, they have been charged twice more with failing to control their players, but escaped with fines and warnings about their future conduct.
A former FA employee, with knowledge of the disciplinary process, said: “It seems there’s an issue within the club.”
Both Chelsea and Leicester have until Tuesday to respond to the charge.
A deduction, of course, could have major implications in Chelsea’s and the Foxes season as they head into the final day of the campaign chasing a place in the top four of the Premier League table.
Leicester are one of the clubs battling with the Blues for a place in the Champions League next season, while Liverpool sit between both sides in fourth.
Victory at Aston Villa will be enough to secure Chelsea’s spot, and boss Thomas Tuchel has faith his players will thrive with everything at stake.
“You get absolutely focused, absolutely sharp when the kind of pressure that we have now is on,” Tuchel said.
“These last two matches for us – against Leicester and now Aston Villa – even if the pressure was on before, they ARE different. The situation is so clear now.
“It brings you to the edge. It brings you out of bed early. You think twice and become sharp. That’s what I demand of myself – to deliver under pressure.”
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel to BBC post-match: “It was a strong performance and well deserved performance. No time for celebration, the job is not done yet, two more games to go. Very happy to play in front of supporters, it was a huge difference today.
“On Sunday we had the post match talk and you go on from there. Today is what we demand, played with high intensity and aggression and the team did very good.
“It is a bit frustrating but we speak about doing it again, go into the box, stay patient and play with a cool head. Keep the fire up and we played a high intensity game.
“We defended so strong, did not give many chances but escaped with a deserved win. It is a different game with fans.”
Leicester striker Kelechi Iheanacho to Sky Sports: “It is so painful, we needed to win this game. The first half was not great and the second half we were much better. It was tough for us to come back.
“We gave everything tonight, it was so tough and hard for us and the last game we need to win and try to book our place in the Champions League.
“It is good to have the fans back in the stadiums, unfortunately we did not have our own fans here.
“Antonio Rudiger went aggressively on Ricardo Pereira and that is what caused the fight. I was telling him to calm down.”
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers to Sky Sports: “It was a very hard fought game. We’re obviously disappointed with the goals. We conceded a needless corner and didn’t pick up well enough. The penalty is very, very, very, harsh. It’s one that we will learn from.
“It was a great atmosphere. It’s brilliant to have the supporters back. We had to weather that storm which we knew would come. We did that, but the nature of the goals we gave away wasn’t so good. If we showed a little bit more patience we might have created one or two more opportunities but it wasn’t to be.”
“My players gave everything and I’m so proud of them. We’re playing against a top side with top players. We’ll recover and get ready for the weekend now.”
“It’s over 38 games. We’ve won so many big games this season. We just missed out in a few details tonight but overall the players have given me absolutely everything. Now we can recover for a few days.
“Liverpool have a couple of games. Chelsea have a tough game away at Aston Villa. I’ve always said we just need to concentrate on ourselves. We’re still in that top four and we’ve got one more game to go. If we win it and it’s still not enough for us we have to accept that. It’s still been a great season.
“It would be really disappointing to miss out on top four. But our story and your story is different. If we just fall short after 38 games as the team with the eighth biggest budget, it shows we fought really hard and just missed out. There are still points to play for and we’ll be ready for that.”
Meanwhile, Big Six clubs are set for talks with the Premier League next week which could lead to fines totalling tens of millions of pounds as punishment for their part in the failed European Super League breakaway.
The clubs will hold talks in the coming days which could lead to anything from one-off fines to the Premier League sides having to forfeit a proportion of next season’s broadcast income.
Fans reacted on a final day twist which sees Chelsea face a ‘possible’ points deduction…
@pluckerbyrne: Plan B if Liverpool miss our?
@ChelseaRumours: Bring on the Super League.
@uden_jay: Point deduction for #chelsea over lack of control over players. Now that would be good banter. Then hit them with another one for super league
@Niall_84: They’ll wait to see if Liverpool get a CL spot first.
@ChelsTransfer: And United get away with postponing their clash with Liverpool? Good luck thinking you can get anywhere with this @FA once Abramovich gets his legal team involved
@northstander2: 😂😂😂😂😂
@MysonMount: FA is literally willing to pull out all stops to make sure Liverpool will qualify
@SidBleedsBlue_: I am sorry if Chelsea get a points deduction for poor player conduct then @FA & @premierleague deserve to be sued for poor refereeing decisions for 3 consecutive chelsea games. It’s a major factor for the bust up.
@myhairynipples: Abromovich laywers will tear the fa apart
@MrJamesMahon: But only if Liverpool don’t win today
https://t.co/JYyJYLxbZp pic.twitter.com/wR2YGy5BTh
— Sadick (@_Rvji) May 23, 2021
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