Branislav Ivanovic Charged With Violent Conduct, Mario Balotelli Off Scot-Free

Ivanovic has established himself as one of, if not the best Chelsea defender this season, with important goals to compliment his no-nonsense style of play from the right-back position.

Ivanovic has until 6pm (GMT) on Wednesday to respond to the charges, and make any appeal.

In other words, someone saw a player’s leg nearly get taken off and did nothing about it, which means the FA can do nothing about it. That’s the rule, I suppose, but it’s a bit of a weird one. To the rest of the world, justice has by no means been done.

In an odd turn of events, Queens Park Rangers midfielder Shaun Derry has had a one-match ban upheld by the FA despite an appeal by his club. Derry had been sent off for denying Manchester United winger Ashley Young a ‘clear goalscoring opportunity’ during QPR’s 2-0 loss at Old Trafford - all well and good except for the minor points of Young being offside in the first place and not actually being fouled in the second.

It’s a really strange decision by the FA’s Regulatory Commission, and not one many were expecting them to take - it’s honestly a little bit mystifying that Rangers managed to lose this appeal. At any rate, losing the 34-year-old for Wednesday’s home match against Swansea won’t help the club’s chances of staying up. They’re currently embroiled in a relegation battle and are only free of the drop zone via goal differential, so right now they could use all the help they could get. The FA has pointedly not provided it.