Chelsea's Diego Costa charged by the FA for violent conduct

Diego Costa has been charged with violent conduct

THE FA, backed up by a panel of three former referees, decided that actually the game does not have to be played "like that" after all and promptly charged Diego Costa with violent conduct.

 

The Chelsea player has until 6pm today to respond. Either way - if he accepts the charge or demands a hearing - the process will be concluded so that, if he is found guilty, he will miss the tomorrow night's Capital One Cup at Walsall and the Premier League games against Newcastle and Southampton.

The charge stems from an incident involving Laurent Koscielny in the 43rd minute of the fiery clash between Chelsea and Arsenal which Jose Mourinho's side eventually won 2-0.

 

TV replays showed Costa grabbing the face of the Arsenal defender before swinging around the other side and smacking him on the nose.

Referee Mike Dean took no action at the time, although he did book Costa in a separate incident for chest-bumping the same player. Under the guidelines, that freed up the FA to go down the route of trial by television.

 

"Diego Costa has been charged for an alleged act of violent conduct which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video," they said in a statement. "The Chelsea forward was involved in an incident with Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny in the 43rd minute of the game. He has until 6pm tomorrow to reply.

"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."

 

Costa received a yellow card from Mike Dean while Gabriel was sent off

When the Chelsea manager was asked about the incident after the game, he claimed: "He played like he has to play - that is why you have full stadiums and sell TV rights round the world for millions and millions. The game has to be played like that. He was the man of the match for me."

But Costa received widespread condemnation for his abrasive behaviour throughout the 90 minutes and hours before the charge was announced that even appeared to be echoed by one of his own team-mates.

Kurt Zouma was interviewed after the game by Arabian TV network BeIN Sports and seemed to imply it was common knowledge in the Chelsea dressing room that Costa operates outside of the rules.

The defender was asked: "Of course Arsenal will feel hard done-by, they will claim you should have had a player sent-off in Diego Costa but this is a player that's famed for riling other players isn't it? Are you surprised that they reacted in this way?"

 

Kurt Zouma has taken back comments he made saying Costa likes to cheat

Zouma replied: "No, we're not surprised because we know Diego. Everyone knows Diego and this guy likes to cheat a lot and put the opponent out of his game.

"That happened in the game but he's a really nice guy. We're very proud to have him."

Zouma, who was described as deeply upset, later retracted his accusation on Twitter. "Sorry for any confusion, English is not my first language and I did not mean to accuse anyone of cheating," he tweeted.

"Simply to say Diego is a player who puts pressure on his opponents and who I have huge respect for."

 

It was a busy day for the FA, who felt that Gabriel was slow to leave the field following his red card and also reprimanded both teams for putting pressure on the officials by surrounding them.

The statement continued: "Arsenal defender Gabriel has been charged with improper conduct for his behaviour following his dismissal, while team-mate Santi Cazorla has been warned for his behaviour following his sending off.

"Finally, both clubs have been charged for failing to control their players under FA Rule E20."

These other charges are unlikely to result in anything more than a fine and already Arsenal have appealed Gabriel's sending off for kicking out at the Chelsea player and are at the same time claiming that even if a red card was appropriate, a three-match ban is excessive punishment.