Chelsea have been fined a whopping £115,000 by the Football Association due to their ill discipline on the pitch in recent weeks.
But manager Enzo Maresca has seen the lighter side of things, saying that as he won’t be the one paying, the fine is ‘not my problem!’
The Blues have been racking up yellow cards like crazy, an issue that began under previous boss Mauricio Pochettino, with their 105 bookings last season setting a Premier League record.
They have carried on this campaign under Maresca, with 36 yellow cards in just nine game so far – seven more than Southampton and Wolves next on the list.
As per FA rules, if a team gets six or more yellow cards in a single match they receive a £25,000 fine. Chelsea have now become the first team to pull off this feat three times in a single season.
The mass bookings came in the 1-0 win at Bournemouth, the 1-1 draw with Notthinham Forest and Sunday’s 2-1 win over Newcastle.
Adding to that £75,000, the Blues have also been fined £40,000 for their part in the mass brawl that broke out during the Forest draw earlier in October.
The melee began when Neco Williams pushed Marc Cucurella into Maresca, with Forest themselves fined £125,000 for failing to control their players.
After that match, Maresca was informed of the fines that Chelsea could face, but gave a humorous response and insisted his team did not have a discipline problem.
‘I’m not going to pay, it’s not my problem!’ the manager said in his post-match press conference.
‘These kinds of things can happen. Then in terms of emotion or these kind of things the team is fighting altogether and I don’t think some of them lose their heads. I think they all of them were in the game and I was happy with that.
‘It [discipline] is something we need to improve but overall, I like the team the way they are fighting. I like the way they are becoming a team in these kinds of things. I don’t see any problems about that.’
Chelsea will be hoping for a less chaotic game when they face Newcastle again on Wednesday, this time in the Carabao Cup.
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