Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, his assistant Rui Faria and midfielder Ramires have been charged by the Football Association for their actions in last Saturday's controversial loss to Sunderland.
#INSERT
type:image
caption:Rui Faria is restrained by Jose Mourinho during the Premier League defeat against Sunderland.
END#
• Worrall: Title bid over
The relegation-threatened Black Cats won the Premier League contest 2-1, ending Mourinho's 77-match unbeaten home league run with the Blues.
Mourinho could not hide his anger afterwards behind a sarcastic appraisal of the officials and will now face an improper conduct charge.
The FA confirmed in a statement: "It is alleged that Mourinho’s comments constitute improper conduct, in that they call into question the integrity of the referee appointed to the above fixture and/or the integrity of Mr Mike Riley, General Manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, and/or the comments bring the game into disrepute."
Meanwhile, Ramires avoided punishment at the time of his flailing arm striking Sebastian Larsson but now faces a retrospective punishment which could prematurely end his domestic season and Faria, who was dismissed for angrily confronting the match officials, has two counts of misconduct to answer.
The FA statement continued: "In the Premier League, if an incident has not been seen by the match officials, a three-man panel of former elite referees will be asked by The FA to review it and advise what, if any, action they believe the match referee should have taken had it been witnessed at the time.
"In this case the panel were unanimous that it was an act of violent conduct. Further to that, assistant manager Rui Faria has been charged with two counts of misconduct.
"It is alleged that in the 83rd minute of the fixture, Faria used abusive and/or insulting words towards the Fourth Official. It also alleged that Faria’s behaviour following the match referee’s request that he leave the technical area amounted to improper conduct.
"The FA has designated this as a non-standard case due to the aggressive and/or threatening and/or serious nature of the reported behaviour.”
Ramires has until 6pm on Thursday 24 April to respond to the charge, while Faria has until 6pm on Monday 28 April.
Ramires will face a four-game ban if found guilty -- he has already been sent off once before this campaign, meaning he will miss the final three Premier League games this term plus the opening match of the 2014-15 campaign.