Somewhat unsurprisingly, Diego Costa and Gabriel have been charged by the English FA following their actions in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday.
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Costa, 26, was seen flailing his arms towards Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny (see the video, above) and struck the Gunners defender twice in the face. The aftermath from that original incident, which wasn’t spotted by referee Mike Dean or his officials but the FA has used video evidence to charge Costa, saw Costa and Koscielny get into a scuffle before another Arsenal defender, Gabriel, got involved.
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Gabriel was first booked along with Costa for the pushing and shoving match, and was then sent off for kicking out at Costa right under Dean’s nose as play was about to restart following the incident. The Brazilian defender has also been charged with “improper conduct” by the FA but it has been reported that Arsenal will appeal Gabriel’s charge and believe he should not receive a three-game ban for his actions.
Santi Cazorla was sent off in the second half for his second yellow card and Arsenal’s skipper for the day has been warned about his conduct after the Gunners finished the game with nine-men. Following the match an angry Arsene Wenger called for the FA to take retrospective action against Costa, calling his behavior “disgusting” but his counterpart Jose Mourinho hailed his striker as said the Spanish international was his “man of the match” as the reigning champions beat their London rivals.
If a retrospective ban is handed to Costa, he will likely miss the next three games which are against Walsall in the League Cup in midweek, a trip to Newcastle this weekend and a home game against Southampton.
ProSoccerTalk have contacted Chelsea to ask if they plan to appeal Costa’s charge and it is expected they will make a decision tomorrow morning, before the 1 p.m. ET deadline.
In a short statement the FA confirmed that both Costa and Gabriel have been charged and both teams have also been charged for “failing to control their players” under FA law.
Following the game between Chelsea and Arsenal on Saturday [19 September 2015], The FA has taken the following disciplinary action.
Diego Costa has been charged for an alleged act of violent conduct which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video. 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 [Tuesday 22 September 2015] 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.
Arsenal defender Gabriel has been charged with improper conduct for his behavior following his dismissal, whilst 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.
Both clubs and Gabriel have until 6pm on Thursday [24 September 2015] to reply.Follow @JPW_NBCSports