The English Football Association charged Arsenal and Chelsea with misconduct on Tuesday following the mass brawl in stoppage time that marred Sunday's League Cup final which ended in a 2-1 victory for Chelsea. Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue has been charged with violent conduct for striking Chelsea's Wayne Bridge.
His team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor, one of two Arsenal players to be red-carded, has been charged with reacting aggressively and failing to leave the field of play immediately after being sent off.
Both players have the right to respond by Wednesday. Eboue's case will be heard by a Disciplinary Commission on Thursday on the basis of documents and video evidence. Adebayor's case will be heard March 6. In a statement on its Web site (www.thefa.com), the FA said that as this charge is outside the jurisdiction of the match officials - he had already been sent off - he has the right to a personal hearing.
Although Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho his Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger came on to the field of play during the brawl, the FA have not levelled any individual charges against officials from either club. Both men were seen to be trying to calm their players down.
The FA said in their statement that the main charge against the two clubs was that they failed to ensure that their "players and/or officials conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative and/or violent behaviour."
The clubs have until March 14 to respond. Arsenal ended the match with nine men following the red cards shown to Adebayor and their skipper Kolo Toure - the first time in English soccer history that any club has had two players sent off in a major final. Chelsea's John Obi Mikel was given his marching orders after the fracas, while referee Howard Webb showed seven yellow cards.
Since Wenger became Arsenal manager in September 1996, Arsenal have had 68 players sent off, five of them this season. The FA said late on Monday it had received claims for wrongful dismissal with regards to Adebayor and Mikel and those claims would be considered.
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