Willian was booked for diving in Chelsea's Community Shield clash with Arsenal - prompting angry fans to call for a retrospective two-match ban.

The Brazilian appeared to go down very easily in the box after moving past Gunners defender Hector Bellerin, and referee Bobby Madley showed him a yellow.

Gunners supporters took to social media to complain about the dive and suggested the 28-year-old should face retrospective action.

Ahead of the new season a panel has been set up by the FA to review footage from competitive fixtures, looking for cases of simulation.

The Brazilian argues with referee Bobby Madley (
Image:
REUTERS)

The initiative is designed to punished the "successful deception of a match official", in the hope players will stop throwing themselves to the ground.

However, there is a key reason why Willian will not be facing a two-match ban.

The match official shows Willian a yellow card (
Image:
REUTERS)

The Brazilian has already been booked for dropping to the ground, meaning he has not deceived the match official, so therefore cannot be considered before a panel.

What's more, only incidents where a player has won a penalty or has influenced a referee's decision to book or send off another professional will be punished.

And as a side note, the Community Shield is considered a friendly match, which means the booking he picked up won't be carried across to count towards a possible future suspension.

Willian's booking was the subject of much debate in the BT Sport studio at half time, with Glenn Hoddle claiming the referee had made a mistake.

The Chelsea man attempts to argue his case (
Image:
REUTERS)

Replays showed the Brazilian's legs touching, which could have thrown him off balance, and caused him to fall to the ground.

Steven Gerrard pointed out that the referee may have seen this however, but chose to book him regardless because he may have thought he still went down too easily.

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