Chelsea have described as “utter nonsense” a claim from a Stoke steward that Diego Costa stamped on his foot.
Stoke have confirmed that a member of their security staff reported Costa to the match referee after an incident on the touchline during the Potters’ victory over the Londoners at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday night.
TV footage of the alleged incident shows Chelsea striker Costa going to retrieve the ball for a throw-in and then appearing to make contact with the steward with his foot.
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A Chelsea spokesperson simply said: “Utter nonsense.”
Referee Anthony Taylor will now make mention of the matter in his match report and the Football Association will determine if any action is necessary in due course.
The incident provided yet another negative headline for the beleaguered champions after their dismal season took in a new low.
The Blues, without their under-pressure manager Jose Mourinho due to a stadium ban, were beaten for a seventh time in 12 Premier League games, going down 1-0.
With Mourinho watching from the team ,Chelsea did actually perform creditably but Marko Arnautovic scored the only goal of the game after 53 minutes.
Chelsea did not send a representative to speak at the post-match press conference.
It is the second time in three games that no member of the coaching staff has spoken to written media after Mourinho shunned duties after the loss at West Ham a fortnight ago.
Bet Diego Costa comes back with “I know what you are but what am I?” when you insult him.
— Sleepless (@ShadowDancerMCR) November 7, 2015
Mourinho will have seen Chelsea slip to a third successive league defeat for the first time in 16 years. It was a result that turned the heat up on the manager considerably.
Asked about Mourinho’s position, goalkeeper Asmir Begovic told the BBC: “That is out of our hands, we are behind the manager – you can see that from our performances. We think he is the right man and someone we work hard for.
“His spirit and his presence is always there, we wanted to get a result for him.”
On the matter of the stadium ban, the Bosnian added: “Jose did the pre-match talk at the hotel and that was it.”
Begovic, Stoke’s former No1, felt the Blues were unlucky at his old club. He said: “We definitely did enough to get a result here, but when things aren’t going your way you don’t get the luck you deserve.
“We hit the post, we slipped over when we had open goals, we are making things hard for ourselves.”
