Chelsea coach, Liam Rosenior has warned his ill-disciplined squad that they risk being dropped if they fail to sort out their behaviour, following yet another red card on Sunday.
Pedro Neto was shown a red card in the second half as Chelsea lost to Arsenal 2-1 at the weekend, marking a ninth red card in all competitions for the Blues this season.
Several players, including Marc Cucurella, Joao Pedro, and Moises Caicedo, have all been sent off at one point or another, with Chelsea now having seen more than double the number of red cards than any other team in England’s top flight.
The Chelsea manager, who will be without Neto for his side’s crunch clash with Aston Villa this week, has called for his players to take some responsibility.
‘It needs to improve,’ he said in his pre-match press conference on Monday. ‘My job is to create a culture of accountability, where if you make a mistake it’s OK, you hold your hands up and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
‘But you have to hold your hands up to the original mistake. If I make a wrong team selection or I get something wrong, my job is to be accountable, and it’s the same for my players in that moment.’
Neto’s dismissal came a week after team-mate Wesley Fofana was sent off in a 1-1 draw at home to Burnley.
‘You need team-mates to help but it comes down to yourself as well,’ Rosenior added. ‘Pedro has apologised to the group. We miss him for Wednesday.
‘I just need to see an improvement in the behaviour now. It’s not just Pedro.
‘People speak about dissent – we’ve had needless bookings in terms of fouls. If we are to improve and get to where we want to be, we have to make a conscious step now to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’
The Blues have 10 Premier League games remaining this season as they look for a top five finish, which should be enough to earn a spot in next season’s Champions League.