Fabregas avoids punishment

Chelsea and Manchester City are charged by FA for failing to control their players as a consequence of what happened at the Etihad on Saturday.  Meanwhile, Cesc Fabregas escapes punishment over his part in the incident. 

The FA have charged both clubs under Rule E20 and given them until 6pm on Thursday to respond. An independent regulatory commission will then decide what action to take, and previous behaviour will be taken into account with Chelsea now facing a sixth charge for this offence.

A brawl which was followed up as a result of cynical challenge from Sergio Aguero on David Luiz saw more than 30 people involved including players, coaching staff and stewards on the pitch towards the end of Chelsea's 3-1 win. 

Fabregas was seen not reacting to Fernandinho's actions as he dragged him into the crowd. 

Taylor confirmed that Fabregas was only booked for 'adopting an aggressive attitude' so the incident was referred to a panel of three former referees to view it independently and judge whether it was a red card offence. However, they did not reach a unanimous decision.

Fernandinho was sent off for shoving Fabregas over an advertising hoarding in retaliation and City teammate Sergio Aguero also saw red for the ugly challenge on David Luiz that sparked the trouble.

The FA statement read: 'Both Manchester City and Chelsea have been charged for failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative behaviour.

'It follows an incident in the 95th minute of the game on Saturday [December 3 2016]. Both clubs have until 6pm on 8 December 2016 to respond to the charge.

'Meanwhile, Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas will not face any further action in relation to an incident involving City's Fernandinho.

'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 of the panel must be unanimous.'

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