Diego Costa: FA to wait until seeing Mike Dean's report before deciding whether Chelsea striker faces retrospective action for Arsenal incident
Costa appeared to strike Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista before the latter was sent off for kicking out
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Football Association will wait to see referee Mike Dean's match report before deciding on whether Diego Costa will face retrospective action.
The Chelsea striker was at the heart of the controversy at Stamford Bridge as he was engaged in rows with Arsenal centre-backs Laurent Koscielny and Gabriel Paulista - the Brazilian centre-back was eventually sent off after kicking out at Costa.
Costa clearly provoked the incident, grabbing Koscileny's face and then hitting out at him, bumping him over with his chest and then exchanging words with Paulista for almost five minutes.
However, the fact that Costa was booked in the original incident could indicate the referee saw it, but whether he saw it in its entirety could be key to the striker's fate.
Dean's report is likely to be submitted on Monday.
Arsene Wenger was furious with the referee, arguing that Costa should have been sent off twice before Paulista was shown the red card.
"I wouldn't like to be Mike Dean tonight because I cannot understand the situations. Twice he (Costa) should have been sent off," Wenger told BT Sport.
"Look at the situation well before the cross comes in, he hits him (Laurent Koscielny) in the face on purpose.
"He makes a fuss of it. In every game there is aggravation but he gets away with it because of the weakness of the referee.
"We are guilty because we gave in on that and responded to it. We knew before the game that he was only looking for that and when he touches him he goes down like he has been killed."
Additional reporting from PA
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments