Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has denied a charge of improper conduct from the Football Association following comments made in the aftermath of their 2-1 defeat at home to Sunderland nine days ago.
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caption:Rui Faria is restrained by Jose Mourinho during the Premier League defeat against Sunderland.
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Mourinho, his assistant Rui Faria and midfielder Ramires were all charged for their actions in the controversial loss. Last week Ramires accepted a four-game ban after throwing an arm into the face of Sebastian Larsson.
Mourinho could not hide his anger afterwards behind a sarcastic appraisal of the officials while Rui Faria had to be restrained from confronting referee Phil Dowd. Faria has accepted his charge and requested a non-personal hearing.
Mourinho and Faria had until 1800 BST on Monday to respond to the charges, which were levelled last Wednesday.
A FA statement read: "Jose Mourinho has denied an FA charge and requested a non-personal hearing in relation to comments he made following Chelsea's game against Sunderland on April 19, 2014.
"It is alleged that Mourinho's post-match comments constitute improper conduct, in that they call into question the integrity of the referee appointed to the above fixture (Mike Dean) 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.
"In relation to the same fixture, Chelsea assistant manager Rui Faria has admitted two misconduct breaches and requested a non-personal hearing.
"The first breach was that Faria used abusive and/or insulting words towards the fourth official [Phil Dowd]. The second breach was that Faria's behaviour following the match referee's request that he leave the technical area amounted to improper conduct. A date for both hearings will be set in due course."