Players of Chelsea and Nottingham Forest came to blows late on in the pair’s Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge.
The pair played out a 1-1 draw on Sunday afternoon, with Noni Madueke’s second-half strike cancelling out Chris Woods’ opener.
It’s a point that keeps Chelsea inside the top four positions, but despite their strong start to the campaign, it was yet another disappointing result at home.
The capital club have won just one of their Premier League outings at Stamford Bridge – something Enzo Maresca will be keen to address after the international break.
In truth, it was a pretty tame affair in west London, but tempers did flare late in the second half, leading to an on-pitch and off-pitch scuffle.
The brawl sparked when Neco Williams, who had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes, shoved Marc Cucurella towards the touchline when the ball was trundling out of play.
Off-balanced by the push, Cucurella went flying towards the Chelsea technical area, colliding with Blues boss Enzo Maresca.
Levi Colwill was first to react, with the Englishman racing over to confront Forest defender Williams.
Wesley Fofana and Malo Gusto were next over, before several Forest players and both sets of coaching teams shared their frustrations with one another.
The referee handed out three yellow cards, with Cucurella, Colwill and main culprit Williams booked for their role in the brawl.
By that point though, Forest had already been reduced to 10 men, with James Ward-Prowse having been shown a second yellow card of his own.
The English midfielder appeared to intentionally handle the ball in a bid to prevent the in-form Nicolas Jackson from breaking through on goal.
Speaking after the contest, goalscorer Madueke told BBC Sport: “They are a stubborn side. We went into the game with the intention to take three points but we couldn’t get over the line and it’s frustrating.
“They were defending pretty much the whole game and sometimes it just doesn’t fall. We go into the international break and come back prepared for Liverpool.
“Credit to them, they are resilient with a lot of players behind the ball. They know if you give us space we are dangerous, having said that we could have scored three, four or five, but its one of those games.”
