Chelsea star under investigation as FA review footage from Tottenham Hotspur incident

Chelsea star Raheem Sterling could be facing an unexpected ban after a Football Association source confirmed they were investigating footage of an incident involving the Blues star from Monday’s 4-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur.

The incident occurred in the aftermath of Cole Palmer’s equaliser after the former Manchester City youngster cancelled out an early opener from Spurs winger Dejan Kulusevski.  Palmer invoked the wrath of the home support by putting his fingers to his lips and video footage shown via the Chelsea TikTok account could well have landed Sterling in hot water with the governing body.

As the Blues players surrounded Palmer during the celebrations, an object was thrown towards them from the home support and it seems to have struck the England Under-21 star on the leg.  As the video continues and the Chelsea players make their way back towards the halfway line, Sterling appears to pick up the object and throw it back into the crowd. 

No action was taken at the time but an FA source has told MailSport the incident is ‘being reviewed’ before a decision is taken over any further action.

The news continues what has been a challenging week for Sterling after he was omitted from the England squad for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifying double header against Malta and North Macedonia.

Gareth Southgate’s side have already qualified for next summer’s finals and there had been some suggestions Sterling could return to the squad for the first time since the World Cup after he scored four goals and provided two assists in 13 appearances for Chelsea so far this season. However, the Blues star’s name was missing from Southgate’s 25-man selection and the England boss has admitted his side’s recent results and performances meant he could not find a place for Sterling in the squad.

Speaking his a press conference on Thursday, he said: “The door is 100% open, not only for Raheem but for other players that aren’t in this squad.

“So there is no doubt about that.  We don’t need to know about his quality, his personality, he is a crucial part of why we’ve had the journey we’ve had over the last few years.  I can only repeat what I’ve seen in the last couple of squad selection meetings.  The team are playing really well.  

“We had an exceptional win against Italy last time around.  Who do we leave out to put him in?  It’s as simple as that really.  Who am I leaving out to put him in?  He wasn’t available in March or June so the team had started on a good.  We won in Italy for the first time in 60 years, the two performances in June were excellent so we have stuck with that group and we have stuck with that group throughout the qualifying campaign.

“We’ve deliberately not made many changes because we have felt that’s been fair to the guys in the squad.  The performances have been excellent.”