Chelsea made Premier League history when they beat Newcastle United 2-1, but it’s not the kind of record that Enzo Maresca will have had his sights set on when taking the job.
Goals from Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer either side of an Aleksander Isak strike saw the Blues come away with all three points on Sunday afternoon,
It was Palmer who was on brilliant form again, with Reece James bailing Maresca’s side out at the other end with two goal-line clearances.
With Palmer scoring Chelsea’s second on the 47th minute, the Blues were hanging in towards the end of the game.
Christopher Nkunku will feel hard done by after Simon Hooper awarded a penalty for Dan Burn’s pull-back on the forward before VAR intervened and the decision was overturned.
Maresca’s men came away from the match with all three points despite a fairly uninspiring second half display, but the match made Premier League history – but not in the way anyone would have expected.
While the game was not particularly feisty, with no dangerous challenges or brawls between the players, Chelsea have come away from the match with six yellow cards.
According to journalist Kieran Gill of the Daily Mail, Chelsea will be fined £75,000 by the FA after becoming the first team in Premier League history to receive six or more yellow cards in three games in a season.
The first time was against Bournemouth in Chelsea’s 1-0 win at the Vitality Stadium, where they were fined £25,000.
Similar to the clash against Newcastle, the match was not a feisty affair, with Maresca afterwards admitting his surprise with the number of yellow cards distributed.
Then came the 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest, where the amount of yellow cards could be understood after a brawl at the end of the match when Neco Williams sent Marc Cucurella into Maresca’s path, knocking the manager over.
On this occasion, Chelsea were handed a £50,000 fine for failure to control their players.
After six players were booked in the win over Newcastle, Chelsea will now pay £75,000 to the FA – which is set to be reinvested into football.
Referee Hooper will no doubt be looking back on some of the bookings for both sides and admitting that he could have let the game flow a little bit more, but Chelsea will be hoping that they can get their discipline in order on the pitch after making history this early into the season.
