Chelsea could be fined by the Premier League after collecting an excessive number of bookings for Saturday afternoon’s game against Newcastle United. The west Londoners headed to St James’ Park for an early kick-off, the last match before Christmas. They had a tough task ahead of them after the hosts’ Nick Waltemaid scored twice in 24 minutes.
Woltemade’s first goal was confirmed on the pitch, and his second goal was also verified after a VAR check for possible offside. The delay took longer than expected as the semi-automatic technology went down while the review was taking place. In the second half, Reece James got Chelsea on the scoreboard with a long-range free-kick, before Joao Pedro equalized for the Blues.
Chelsea, who were forced to settle for a draw with Newcastle, are also likely to be fined by the Premier League.
Chelsea received seven yellow cards during the stalemate at St James’ Park, with Alejandro Garnacho, Maro Gusto, Robert Sanchez, Moises Caicedo, Andrei Santos and Pedro all receiving warnings from referee Andy Madrid.
Maresca also received a booking from Madrid in the first half, taking Chelsea’s total number of bookings to seven.
Newcastle had three players booked by Madrid, with Fabian Schaal, Yoan Wissa and Lewis Hall all receiving yellow cards.
This is not the first time this season that Chelsea have been fined for disciplinary reasons.
They were reportedly fined £25,000 by the Football Association for accumulating six yellow cards during the 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford in September.
Again, Sanchez received a red card for an early foul and the Blues were down after just five minutes.
Chelsea’s next match will be against Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on December 27, after a draw with Newcastle that lifted them to fourth place in the Premier League.
After the final whistle, goalscorer Pedro said: “We knew it was going to be a tough game. We played better than them in the second half, we scored twice and we could have scored more.”
“We got the point so we have to move on. We started the first half poorly and conceded two goals straight away. They are playing with their fans and we know it will be difficult.”
