Jose Mourinho Slams Cesc Fabregas Red Card, Aims Dig at Chelsea Title Rivals

Jose Mourinho has branded Cesc Fabregas’ red card against West Brom “harsh” after the Chelsea midfielder was sent off for kicking the ball at Chris Brunt.

Fabregas was dismissed in the first half by referee Mike Jones when he kicked the ball across the penalty area as players were involved in a melee and it struck Brunt in the head.

The Spain international will now serve a three-match suspension and it means he will miss the final game of this season at home to Sunderland on Sunday, as well as the start of the next campaign.

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But Mourinho was unhappy with the decision in Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat and the fact Fabregas will be hit with a three-game ban.

He said in his post-match press conference, per James Whaling of the Daily Mirror: “Three-game ban for this? Jesus Christ. Three-game ban? Of course it's harsh. Where is the danger of the situation, where is the aggression in the situation to get the red card in a friendly game?”

The red card was only the second that Fabregas has been shown in the Premier League, per OptaJoe:

However, former referee Graham Poll backed Jones’ decision to show Fabregas a red card, per the Daily Mail. He wrote:

"

Referees have been criticised plenty of times this season for bad decisions but Fabregas' one here must be right up there and he was rightly sent off by Mike Jones. There can be no question that Jones was correct – with play stopped for him to sort out a stramash between Diego Costa and Gareth McAuley, Fabregas inexplicably kicked the ball with force at a group of West Brom players.

"

Fabregas was also criticised by former Sunderland and Wigan midfielder Kevin Kilbane, per the BBC:

There seems little chance Chelsea would have any success if they decided to appeal Fabregas’ red card. Jones applied the laws of the game to the incident and Mourinho must be asking what prompted Fabregas to act in the way he did.

His absence against Sunderland isn’t going to be a problem, but it will be a blow for Chelsea to be without the playmaker for the start of next season. He has created 18 assists this season, per WhoScored.com.

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Meanwhile, after Chelsea’s 16-match unbeaten run came to an end at the Hawthorns, per Sky Sports, Mourinho offered a little dig at the club’s title rivals.

It was only a third defeat of the season in the Premier League for Chelsea and came a fortnight after the club had secured the title with three games still to play.

Chelsea have an eight-point advantage over second-placed Manchester City ahead of the final game of the season and have been in control of top spot for months.

There was a lack of competitive edge about Chelsea’s performance against West Brom, but Mourinho felt it was in response to the lack of a genuine title challenge from other clubs.

He said, per Whaling: "I don't blame the players, to blame the players I have to blame myself because I am not different than them. Let's blame the players a little bit, let's blame myself, let's blame the top contenders for the title because they were not good enough to fight with us until the end."

Chelsea can’t be blamed for switching off against West Brom when the title has been wrapped up for some time and their opponents had nothing to play for either.

The big issue is whether Chelsea are going to have any realistic title challengers next season given how dominant Mourinho’s team have been over the past nine months.

Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United all need to strengthen their squads if they want to be in a position to catch Chelsea. But Mourinho is a manager who never stands still and he will expect Chelsea to improve again next season, which is likely to be bad news for the title race.