FA drop Clattenburg investigation to complete tumultuous 48 hours for Chelsea

Yesterday West London outfit Chelsea were branded a joke because of the dismissal of double-winning manager Roberto Di Matteo, and then replacing him with Rafael Benitez, a man despised by many Blues fans.

Today they have been condemned by many after the FA dropped their investigation into allegations that referee Mark Clattenburg abused two Chelsea players during the 3-2 defeat to Manchester United last month.

Chelsea midfielder Ramires will come under scrutiny as a result of the statement released by the FA about the incident. It is clear that it was the Brazilian, not John Obi Mikel as many first thought, that made the accusation. It is the latest chapter of an ongoing racism saga that has blighted the Premier League over the last 12 months.

                                    Recent racism problems in Premier League football:

October 2011	Chelsea captain John Terry is first accused via Youtube by an anonymous spectator of abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand.
December 2011	Liverpool forward Luis Suarez is handed eight match ban for calling Manchester United defender Patrice Evra ‘negro’ seven times in two minutes.
October 2012	John Terry handed four match ban for saying ‘f***ing black c**t’ to Ferdinand, having also been stripped of the England captaincy.
October 2012	Several black Premier League players refuse to endorse a ‘Kick It Out’ campaign by not wearing promotional T-shirts.
October 2012	Referee Mark Clattenburg accused of abusing two Chelsea players during match against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
Novermber 2012	The FA clear Clattenburg of any wrongdoing and investigation is dropped.

The FA said in their statement: "Equally The FA is satisfied that the allegation against Mark Clattenburg by Ramires was made in good faith. It is entirely possible for a witness to be genuinely mistaken and convincing in his belief."

Although it appears that Ramires did make the allegation for the right reasons, there will be many people who feel that players and people within football are far too quick to point the finger at others. Ramires' first language is not English, and what he heard was clearly a mistake as no other player, not even Mikel, heard the apparent words 'shut up you monkey' uttered by Clattenburg. All the other match officials were wearing headpieces connected to the referee and they all vehemently denied the allegations. 

Although Ramires must have thought he heard something, he should have confided in other players and the match officials before making such outrageous accusations. 

Once again this is poor press for Chelsea as their troubled week continues. Rafael Benitez's job seems to be getting harder and harder with every couple of hours and a win on Sunday against Manchester City is now paramount. With this article being written just minutes before Benitez's first press conference it has become obvious that he is going to have even more tricky questions to face than he would have first expected, indeed, if he does not speak about milk again than it may be seen as a success.

On the other hand this is exactly what the FA needed and Clattenburg will most likely be returned to refereeing duties this weekend after four weeks on the sidelines.

Liverpool fight back against Chelsea to secure 1-1 draw

Chelsea and Liverpool fought out a competitive 1-1 at Stamford Bridge after Luis Suarez netted his 11th of the season to equalise John Terry's opener. 

The back post header from a Jamie Carragher flick-on made Suarez just the fifth Reds player to score in four consecutive Premier League away games and the first since Steven Gerrard in 2009.

He was largely kept at bay in a quiet first half performance but burst into life after the break and showed why  his manager Brendan Rodgers has likened him to Lionel Messi recently. His link-up play and the threat that he posed were Chelsea's main problems as they failed to hold onto a lead for the second successive week.

Rodgers introduced Suso in the 60th minute, replacing Nuri Sahin, as the away team switched from a 5-3-2 formation to a 5-1-3-1 set-up. Joe Allen sat deep with Raheem Sterling, Gerrard and Suso supporting star-man Suarez.

For much of the campaign Liverpool have enjoyed plenty of possession but offered little threat apart from through Suarez. It was much of the same in the first half as Rodgers' men kept the ball for long periods but never looked like creating anything of note.

On the other hand Chelsea created a number of chances and it was returning skipper John Terry who escaped the attentions of Daniel Agger to power in a header. It was his 50th goal for the London club, 29 of which have in the Premier League, 20 of which have been headers. The former England captain had to be substituted just 16 minutes later after an accidental collision with Suarez. 

Oscar missed a glorious opportunity to give Chelsea the lead early on and Juan Mata fired over on the stroke of half-time with just goalkeeper Brad Jones to beat. Early in the second half Jones was called into action as he reacted well to stop a Fernando Torres header. 

Suso's introduction sparked Liverpool into life and after the equaliser had they the better chances to win the game. Jose Enrique, who had an excellent game at left wing-back, put Suarez through on goal only for Petr Cech to deny the striker. 

It was the Spanish defender who had the last chance in the final minute of injury-time, but his low shot was turned away by Cech. 

Rodgers credited the way his team came back in the second half: "I thought in the first half we were too tentative. Second half our attitude in the game was much better and we are better when we play fast football.

"Coming here is a very difficult place. I thought it was a great point for us. You have to give credit to the players, they were fantastic.

"Whatever system you have, it doesn't matter, it is about the application and the quality of the players."

Chelsea will be disappointed that they didn't see the game out and now sit three points behind league leaders Manchester United, while Liverpool will be delighted with a draw that extends their unbeaten league run to six matches.

Statistics from Infostrada Sports: http://infostradalive.com/