Shock new footage shows Nicolas Jackson slapping Nottingham Forest player in mass brawl but Chelsea star avoids punishment
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Nicolas Jackson has avoided punishment despite video footage showing the Chelsea star appearing to slap an opponent in their 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.
Blues defender Marc Cucurella was nudged by Forest man Neco Williams as he chased down a ball near the halfway line.
Cucurella tumbled too the ground and accidentally wiped out his boss Enzo Maresca in the process.
This sparked an angry reaction from Chelsea players and tensions boiled over between the two teams onto the pitch.
Players from both clubs were caught in the tussle, with coaching staff trying to break up the melee as Cucurella and Levi Colwill were booked by referee Chris Kavanagh.
Touchline footage appeared to show star striker Jackson, who had been substituted prior but joined the melee, slapping an opponent.
VAR did look at the incident but deemed no further action was taken, with questions arising over potential retrospective punishment.
However, Jackson has avoided a sanction for the incident, with the FA instead punishing both clubs for their players’ behaviour.
“Chelsea and Nottingham Forest have been charged after the mass confrontation at their Premier League fixture on Sunday, 6 October,” a statement read.
“It’s alleged that both clubs failed to ensure their players didn’t behave in an improper and/or provocative way around the 88th minute. Chelsea and Nottingham Forest have until Thursday, 10 October to provide their responses.”
Chelsea are already facing another £25,000 fine after six of their players were shown yellow cards, with the Blues previously seeing eight players booked in their 1-0 win at Bournemouth, a match that had the most bookings in one match in Premier League history.
Cucurella’s yellow means he will miss Chelsea’s clash away at Liverpool in their first match after the October international break, with Wesley Fofana also suspended following his yellow card.
The match at Stamford Bridge had 13 minutes of stoppage time with Chelsea being held to a 1-1 draw.
The visitors took the lead four minutes into the start of the second-half when Chris Wood poked in from close range.
It didn’t take long for Chelsea to respond though as Noni Madueke fired into the bottom-left corner from Cole Palmer’s fifth Premier League assist of the season.
Forest faced a nervy end to the match after seeing James Ward-Prowse sent off with a second yellow card for a deliberate handball.
Chelsea had two excellent chances to score a late winner but both Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku were unable to find the back of the net.
Forest also had a golden opportunity to take all three points back to Nottingham but Robert Sanchez expertly denied Jota Silva in the final moments.
The draw ends Chelsea’s winning run of five matches in all competitions but sees them remain in the Premier League top four before the international break.
Forest bounced back from last weekend’s defeat to Fulham with another point at Stamford Bridge, their fifth in three seasons since returning to the Premier League.
"If you ask me if I prefer when something like that happens – I like the spirit of our team," Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca said.
"In terms of emotion, the team is fighting altogether and I don't think some of them lose their heads. They were, all of them, in the game. I was happy with that.
"For sure, there are things that we can control and do better, and probably this is one of the things. But the way they are fighting together, the way they are doing things together, I'm very happy."
