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Essien escapes punishment for tackle

18/10/2005

Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien has escaped any further disciplinary action from the FA concerning his late lunge on Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim.

The Ghanaian was booked by referee Rob Styles during Chelsea's 5-1 win over Bolton on Saturday for a high, studs-up challenge on the Israeli.

However, Styles asked the incident to be referred to the FA after seeing the challenge again on television replays, stating he would have sent the player off if he had seen it from another angle.

However, when Fifa were approached by the FA, asking for the card to be upgraded from yellow to red, the world governing body refused, saying that too many decisions were being changed after the incident had occurred and Essien's yellow card would remain.

The Chelsea midfielder would have received a three match ban if the yellow card was upgraded to a red.

Elsewhere, Blackburn defender Zura Khizanishvili has had his red card from Rovers' 1-0 defeat to Liverpool at the weekend overturned by the FA's disciplinary panel.

The Georgian was ordered off after bringing down Djibril Cisse when the Liverpool striker was breaking towards the penalty area, despite there being other defenders covering.

The FA upheld the appeal lodged by Blackburn and the defender has had his suspension rescinded.

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