The Football Association have confirmed that both Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur will be fined for failing to control their players during the clubs’ recent 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge that ended Spurs’ slim hopes of the title.
The match, which was dubbed as ‘The Brawl At The Bridge’ by the press, saw twelve yellow cards issued. Nine of them were shown to Tottenham players, the most one side has been issued with this season. The fines are for two incidents that took place during the game and one that happened after full-time.
Mousa Dembele, the Spurs player, had already been banned for six games earlier this month after video footage appeared to show him attempting to ‘gouge’ the eye of Chelsea striker Diego Costa. There was also an incident when Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino had to step onto the field of play in order to separate his defender Danny Rose and the Chelsea winger Willian, with the two players seemingly about to confront each other.
The other incident the FA have taken exception to involved Rose once again, with an altercation taking place that resulted in Chelsea’s interim manager, Guus Hiddink, being pushed to the floor.
Chelsea have been ordered to pay £375,000 as this is the fourth time that the West London club have breached the Football Association’s rule on mass confrontations since November of 2014. It is the third time that Spurs have breached the same rule, so they have been fined £225,000.
Both clubs have been warned about their future conduct by the Football Association, with the organisation keen to clamp down on what it perceives to be unsportsmanlike behaviour.