Tottenham
and Chelsea could find themselves in trouble after a fractious night at
Stamford Bridge with 12 players booked on Monday night.
Eden Hazard scored a late equaliser to secure a 2-2 draw and finally end any
hope of Spurs winning the Premier League title as Leicester became Premier
League champions.
But it was a bad-tempered evening in west London with nine Tottenham players
booked, Chelsea picking up three yellow cards, Spurs midfielder Mousa
Dembele appearing to eye-gouge Diego Costa and Blues boss Guus Hiddink
tumbling after a mass scuffle at the final whistle.
The nine cards is the most a team has received in Premier League history and
Spurs will be hit with an automatic fine from the Football Association. Any
team that gets six or more bookings during a game gets charged and gets at
least a £25,000 fine.
It was a busy night for referee Mark Clattenburg, who will be consulted on
Tuesday morning and it is likely both clubs will be charged with breaching
the FA's Rule E20 - rules surrounding "mass confrontation".
Both sets of players and backroom staff were involved in ugly scenes in
front of the tunnel at the end as Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas, whose
hand had earlier been trod on by Erik Lamela, confronted Danny Rose with
Hiddink losing his footing.
As the brawl intensified, Tottenham's reserve goalkeeper Michel Vorm clashed
with Costa who was then grabbed from behind by Jan Vertonghen as security
staff attempted to restore order. Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino tried to
diffuse the situation by checking on Hiddink.
Chelsea's interim boss said: "I took one of my players Fabregas down the
tunnel because there were words in Spanish and there were threatening words
[from the players] and this is a normal reaction.
"Even at my age, I had no problem falling down! These incidents we mustn't
have but in the end, it was 'let's calm down'."
Defender Gary Cahill, scorer of Chelsea's opener, gave his thoughts on the
melee to SSNHQ: "I wasn't surprised - I always thought it was going to be
like that."
Spurs striker Harry Kane added: "It's the Premier League we are fighting
for. It's what we want to win. There's going to be some challenges, it was a
London derby and the crowd were up for it and we needed to win - that's just
football."
Chelsea centre-half John Terry said: "It was a London derby we hadn't lost
in 26 years. It was always going to boil over. A couple of times, it got out
of hand but players are fighting for points and titles. It's emotions -
that's football."
Dembele faces the prospect of a lengthy retrospective ban for his eye gouge
on Costa in the first half. Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher described the
act as "shocking" and said the Tottenham midfielder's season was over.
Dembele's team-mate Dele Alli picked up a retrospective suspension last week
for punching West Brom's Claudio Yacob.
Pochettino could also be in trouble with the FA after being involved in two
touchline incidents, including going on to the pitch to separate Chelsea
winger Willian and left-back Rose as they clashed.
The Argentine boss said: "Maybe we didn't set a good example, but it's a
normal emotion, fighting on the pitch.
"I was involved in all of it. I tried to be calm. But it was a derby, we
were fighting for the title and Chelsea were fighting to win the game. It's
not personal. It's football, we are men, they are men, we need to show we
are strong."
Chelsea have been punished on three separate occasions this season by the FA
for "failing to control players", with fines totalling £155,000. Spurs have
been punished once after their game against West Brom in December.
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