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It wouldn't be a proper Chelsea game without some extra shenanigans away from the actual match action.
In a game full of actual talking points, from Chelsea's continuing bad luck and ridiculous errors in defense to our woes in front of the opposition goal and the penalty not called in the Rémy v. Butland incident, we also had this ridiculous story coming out after that match wherein a stadium steward apparently reported Diego Costa for "assault" to the match officials. Most believe this was in reference to the "incident" that was caught on the Sky Sports cameras, too, when Costa went to retrieve a ball from out of bounds from among a bunch of stewards making no attempt to help or at least get out of the way a bit.
Stoke steward complaining to referee Anthony Taylor, accusing Chelsea striker Diego Costa of assault. Courtesy: Sky pic.twitter.com/ZC1ws0fcWG
— fanatix (@therealfanatix) November 7, 2015
Could've killed the lad, really.
Ridiculously broad definition of "assault" aside, that video is hardly conclusive evidence of anything other than that yes, there appeared to be some contact. It's unclear who initiated the contact or what contact actually occurred. The steward apparently claimed a "stamp", which is not something I can spot at all. Chelsea, unsurprisingly, called the whole thing, and I quote, "utter nonsense".
Regardless of what actually happened, the latest reports agree that the two clubs have resolved the situation.
A Chelsea spokesman branded the accusation as "utter nonsense", although it is understood Taylor will include the incident in his match report.
But Stoke and Chelsea officials met after the game, with both sides accepting that no further action was necessary, and this agreement was also communicated to the referee.
-source: Sky
With Taylor including the incident in his report, Costa could perhaps face retrospective FA punishment. There is no word on what Taylor's report might contain about the penalty non-call (other than "oops") or if the Stoke steward is in any way related to the Swansea City ball-LAD who decided to lie on top of the ball and then fake getting kicked by Eden Hazard.
And just in case there was any doubt, this is just further confirmation that yes, this season is, in fact, the worst.