Arsenal will have plenty of questions about what happened in the 58th minute of Chelsea‘s defeat to Fulham following their FA charge.
What’s the story?
Well, the Gunners were slapped with a second FA charge of improper conduct within the space of a week after their 3-0 FA Cup win over Oxford.
The FA cited a 38th minute incident during that win as reason to charge Arsenal, as four players surrounded David Coote to appeal for a penalty after the ball clearly hit Elliott Moore’s hand.
It was a bizarre decision from both Coote and the FA. The ball clearly hit Moore’s hand, and in regards to the protests, that happens on a weekly basis in hundreds of games across England. It was hardly aggressive, to say the least.
For example, it happened during Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Fulham on Thursday evening, and we believe Mikel Arteta should already be sending footage of the 58th minute moment at Craven Cottage to the FA.
After Joao Felix lunged into a challenge on Kenny Tete, the Fulham players swarmed around Coote – coincidentally refereeing again just hours after Arsenal were charged – as did the Chelsea players.
There has not even been a whiff of reaction to Coote being surrounded, despite the fact almost three times as many players were pestering him in comparison to the Arsenal quartet against Oxford.
FA must now charge Chelsea after punishing Arsenal
If the FA do not charge Chelsea for surrounding Coote, then they seriously risk burning their bridges with Arsenal.
If we were Arteta, it would be hard not to think the FA has something against the Gunners if Chelsea manage to avoid a charge of improper conduct.
What the FA’s charge has done now is set a dangerous precedent across English football.
Either everybody is punished on a weekly basis for simple protests against a decision, or the charge against Arsenal is left as an unfair, anomalistic incident – we aren’t sure which outcome is worse.
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