Chelsea’s Alonso hit with FA charge

Marcos Alonso has been charged with violent conduct by the Football Association following his challenge on Shane Long during Chelsea’s 3-2 win at Southampton on Saturday.

The Blues wing-back appeared to stand on the back of Southampton forward Long’s calf.

It went unpunished by referee Mike Dean, but the FA have taken retrospective action after reviewing footage of the incident.

The Spaniard has until 6pm on Wednesday to respond to the charge.

A suspension would see him miss Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, also against Southampton, who were leading 2-0 when Alonso clashed with Long.

He would also miss Premier League games against Burnley and Swansea.

An FA statement read: “Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso has been charged with violent conduct following an incident with Southampton’s Shane Long.

“It happened in the 43rd minute of Saturday’s game [14/04/18] and was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.

“He has until 6pm on Wednesday [18/04/18] to respond to the charge.

“Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time are referred by The FA to a panel of three former elite match officials.

“Each panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence.

“For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision of the panel must be unanimous.”

Southampton manager Mark Hughes insisted after Saturday’s match that Alonso should have been sent off.

Former Chelsea forward Hughes said: “It was a poor challenge – it should have been a red card in my view.

“The disappointment was the officials didn’t see it. They were all within a 10 to 15-metre radius. One of them should have seen it.”