The London blues play the League Cup final against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur this weekend, and they'II be doing it without one of their best players. While the FA has opted to reduce Matic's suspension for violent conduct, he's still suspended for two games in all competitions, meaning he won't play at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
The Serbia was shown a straight red card for an incident involving Burnley's Ashley Barnes on Saturday. Barnes caught Matic high up with his studs and Matic reacted by shoving Barnes to ground. Barnes was not booked fir his part in the incident, and referee Matin Aktkinson has been given a week off from Premier League officiating for his poor call.
Of course, a small reduction in suspension for Matic, coupled with the lack of discipline for Barnes, has Chelsea annoyed.
According to reports, Their release states that "it is Chelsea's opinion that referees and the football authorities must do more to protect players at all levels of the from dangerous challenges."And while on one disagrees with that, Matic did, after all, shove Barnes to the ground during a non-footballing incident. That's a red card and three-games or more, but there's not more of a case for eliminating Matic's suspension altogether. What he did was violet conduct, by the letter of the law.
Ultimately, the biggest beneficiary from all this is Tottenham, who will be thrilled to face a Chelsea side that doesn't include their star defensive midfielder. The blues are still going to be favorites to lift the cup, but Spurs' chances of springing an upset just got a lot better with the confirmation that Matic will miss the match.
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