Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel and his Tottenham counterpart Antonio Conte have been charged by the Football Association following their touchline fracas during Sunday's ill-tempered draw.
The pair clashed twice at Stamford Bridge as tempers flared during a fiery London derby which saw Spurs clinch a 2-2 draw with a Harry Kane goal right at the end.
Both managers were booked for the first bust-up, then sent off at full-time when a rather aggressive handshake resulted in more ugly scenes.
The FA confirmed on Monday that Tuchel and Conte now had a charge to answer.
"Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte have both been charged with a breach of FA Rule E3, following the Premier League fixture between Chelsea FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC on Sunday 14 August 2022," the FA's statement read.
"It is alleged that the behaviour of both managers was improper following the end of the fixture. Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte have until Thursday 18 August 2022 to provide their respective responses."
The Press Association reported that Tuchel could face further charges with the FA set to investigate the German's post-match comments as he claimed "maybe it would be better" for Anthony Taylor not to referee Chelsea again.
After the match, when asked about a view held by some fans that Taylor has a history of decisions against Chelsea, Tuchel said: “I don’t think just some of the fans think that. I can assure you the whole dressing room of us, every single person, thinks that.”
Tuchel was unhappy that an apparent foul by Tottenham’s Rodrigo Bentancur on Chelsea’s Kai Havertz was missed by the officials before Tottenham’s equaliser. He also was surprised Tottenham defender Cristian Romero wasn’t penalised for pulling the hair of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella at the corner before Kane’s second Spurs goal.
He described it as a “huge, huge misinterpretation of situations”.
"There's no hard feelings – I feel like it was a fair tackle from him and a fair tackle from me," Tuchel added.
"We did not insult each other, we did not hit each other, we were fighting for our teams. It was hot from the temperature and hot between the benches and hot on the field and hot between the spectators."
Conte preferred not to go into the details about the fracas.
"For sure I am not passive. If I see aggression, then my answer is with aggression but I repeat this is not a problem," Conte said. "The most important thing is the game was a great game with two teams where there is a big rivalry. For us to get a point was really important."
