Chelsea FC midfielder Cesc Fabregas has seen his potential three match ban for “violent conduct” reduced to just one game after the club appealed to the FA. Fabregas received the red card in Monday’s match with West Bromwich Albion for kicking a ball at Chris Brunt’s head from about twenty yards away.
As we have covered earlier this week, it was a bizarre moment in a bizarre match that many expected to be a friendly 90 minute stroll at the Hawthorns. As many people like to joke, striker Diego Costa could start a fight in an empty room and he nearly did just that after causing a tussle with a West Brom defender.
Fabregas, acting like an annoyed child during a game in the park, decided to put an end to the arguing between the West Brom players and the ref and pinged a perfect cross off the back of Brunt’s head.
The Spaniard was subsequently sent off for his “violent” actions and an already unmotivated Chelsea side fell apart under West Brom’s pressure. After the match, manager Jose Mourinho was baffled by the referee’s decision and called it “harsh” which many of the media agreed with and so it seems does the FA.
.@ChelseaFC is delighted to announce that @cesc4official will only serve a one-match suspension... pic.twitter.com/eTPX9majZ7
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 20, 2015
This is not the first time that Chelsea FC have somewhat won an appeal this season after Nemanja Matic’s three match ban from an incident against Burnley was reduced to two.
This appeal was far more successful as it sees Cesc Fabregas miss a match on Sunday against Sunderland that he may have featured in but is of no consequence to Chelsea FC’s season. If Sunderland does not get at least a point today against Arsenal then they will be in danger of being relegated on Sunday. If that is the case then Mourinho will be “obligated” to field a strong side as part of the unwritten rules against fielding weak teams against sides in a relegation battle.
The reduction in the match ban will also allow Fabregas to play in the FA Community Shield next season which he was in danger of missing. As Premier League champions, the Blues would face the winner of the FA Cup which will be decided on May 30th between Arsenal and Aston Villa. Arsenal are the big favorites so it would have robbed him of the chance to win a trophy right in front of the manager and club that spurned him this summer.
Thankfully the FA actually has some common sense at times and one could argue that even the one match ban is excessive. They must have upheld it just to support their referee who did a poor job controlling the match on Monday but all of that is inconsequential as our man who wears a magic hat will be back in action for the season opener in the fall.
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