FA Cup: Gunners and Blues bad boys wait on FA probe
Chelsea and Arsenal must wait to find out whether they face a disciplinary probe by the Football Association’s video review panel after their bad-tempered FA Cup fifth-round tie.
The FA are waiting to read referee Graham Barber’s official report before deciding whether to call for the use of video evidence.
However, it seems likely the video panel will be called in unless Barber insists he spotted all of the controversial incidents during Arsenal’s 3-1 win at Highbury and took what he considered to be appropriate action.
On television replays, Chelsea’s Celestine Babayaro appeared to tread on Fredrik Ljungberg’s ankle and also seemed to flick out his boot, a la David Beckham at France 98, at Dennis Bergkamp, thereby tripping him up.
The Nigerian defender was further involved in an ill-tempered first-half scuffle between about a dozen players, which resulted in three yellow cards being shown by Barber.
Babayaro escaped any action on that occasion, despite clashing with Arsenal midfielder Lauren amid allegations that the full-back threw a punch, while Ashley Cole was another who was not punished for their involvement.
Barber’s report may reveal that he feels he saw the whole incident, in which case the video panel would not be called in to study it.
However, Barber could equally ask for a review by the FA to check that nothing was missed behind his back in such a melee.
And if he were to go even further and report a "mass confrontation", as happened between Tottenham and Leeds last season, then each club - if found guilty - could be fined up to £250,000.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who was himself charged by the FA earlier this season and has also seen Patrick Vieira pick up suspensions due to video evidence, said after the game: "Now I will let the panel do their job.
"I have had enough trouble with their decisions already."
Asked about the mass incident, Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri, who claimed Vieira had been "untouchable and unpunishable", added: "Only David Seaman and Carlo Cudicini didn’t deserve to be booked.
"There was a huge amount of chaos and the referee could have brought out red cards for both teams. When the fracas happened, they only needed boxing gloves to call it a boxing bout."
As for the earlier incidents involving Babayaro, the panel can only be asked to decide whether to recommend a disciplinary charge if the referee has not seen what happened at the time.
An FA spokesman confirmed that the governing body were waiting to receive referee Barber’s official report, with no decision on any possible further action expected by them until at least tomorrow.
