UK Edition
Chelsea have no plans to seek expert help with disciplinary issues after David Luiz red card against Arsenal
Chelsea will not call in expert help to try to stop their run of red cards or hold talks with referee chiefs over the belief of many of the club’s players that they have been victims of inconsistency.
David Luiz became the fifth Chelsea player to be sent-off in the club’s last eight games, stretching back to last season’s FA Cup final, in the goalless draw against Arsenal.
The Brazilian now faces a three-game suspension, which will see him miss games against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup, and Stoke City and Manchester City in the Premier League, with the Blues unlikely to appeal against the decision.
Former Premier League referee Keith Hackett suggested in his Telegraph Sport column that Chelsea need to get in a representative from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited or David Ellery to talk to head coach Antonio Conte and his players.
But, despite their disciplinary problems, there are no plans for Chelsea to seek outside help to address the issues Conte is facing. The club do not feel the players need the rules explaining to them again and are confident the recent run of red cards will prove to be an anomaly.
Conte complained that Luiz had been fouled by Alexis Sanchez before the tackle on Sead Kolasinac that earned him a red card, while the Brazilian believes he was on the end of a similar challenge from the Arsenal defender in the Community Shield that went unpunished.
Captain Gary Cahill thinks several challenges that were worse than the tackle he was sent-off for in the opening-day defeat to Burnley have not resulted in red cards for players at other clubs.
Jan Vertonghen and Eric Dier were fortunate not to be sent-off against Chelsea this season, while Victor Moses claimed he had been elbowed by Victor Wanyama after the game against Tottenham Hotspur.
Conte made reference to the feeling inside Chelsea that they are the victims of inconsistent refereeing by saying: “I hope to be more lucky with the refereeing decisions. For us, and also for the opponents. Sometimes the opponents deserve a red card but, instead, they carry on playing with 11 men.”
Having already spoken with his players about the need to keep their discipline, Conte now faces the difficult challenge of trying to eradicate the red cards but making sure his players are not bullied by opponents.
A surprise element of Sunday’s goalless draw was the fact that Arsenal out-battled Chelsea for the majority of the game and were generally more physical than the Premier League champions.
Aaron Ramsey was also allowed to run into the penalty area before hitting the post with a shot and there is a feeling the Chelsea players were scared to make a challenge because a penalty would have been awarded against them.
Chelsea have met with Professional Game Match Officials Limited in the past, once after a complaint from Ramires of racial abuse from Mark Clattenburg towards John Obi Mikel which the club later admitted they regretted.
Mike Riley and Howard Webb visited Chelsea’s Cobham training ground in 2015 to discuss the fall-out from the club’s game against Burnley in which Nemanja Matic was sent-off for reacting to a dangerous tackle from Ashley Barnes that went unpunished.
Chelsea were furious that Matic’s three-game ban was only reduced to two games and that Barnes did not face any retrospective action.
Spanish reports now claim that only a loyalty payment of £2.4million is holding up Diego Costa’s return to Atletico Madrid, with the Spanish club making an offer worth up to £57m.
Chelsea will not comment on the future of Costa, who did not take his scheduled flight back to London last week, but sources claim the Blues are still waiting for Atletico to meet their demands.