Chelsea 2-2 Tottenham: Mousa Dembele facing possible ban after Diego Costa altercation

Mousa Dembele could be facing a retrospective ban following an altercation with Diego Costa during Tottenham Hotspur's 2-2 draw against Chelsea on Monday night (2 May). The Blues ended their London rivals' title hopes after coming back from two goals down, in what was a feisty affair that witnessed a total of 12 yellow cards being brandished by referee Mark Clattenburg.

The two players came together during a scuffle that was initially started by Willian and Danny Rose and video replays showed the Belgian midfielder attempting to eye gouge the Brazil-born Spain international, which was not spotted by the referees. Dembele will become the second Spurs player to be handed a possible retrospective ban by the FA, after Dele Alli was handed a three-game suspension for punching Claudio Yacob during their clash against West Bromwich Albion last week (26 April).

Tottenham were in the driver's seat in a game that they had to win to have any hopes of catching newly crowned Premier League champions Leicester City. They went into the break 2-0 up but were unable to hold on as Gary Cahill and Eden Hazard levelled the scores in the second half, with the Belgian's strike coming with seven minutes remaining. Chelsea's celebrations sparked yet another touchline brawl, which resulted in Guus Hiddink being pushed to the ground.

The Dutch manager was attempting to hold off Cesc Fabregas from a Tottenham support staff but all the tussling around sent the Blues manager tumbling into the dugout. Both teams are likely to come under the scanner after failing to control the players, with Tottenham facing a mandatory fine after nine players picked up a booking.

Jamie Carragher, meanwhile, has reacted to Dembele's actions against Costa, and the former Reds defender is certain that he would have been sent off if the referee had spotted his attempt to eye gouge the striker. He believes Tottenham have themselves to blame after getting sucked into Chelsea's aggressive tactics, despite being in the lead going into the second half.

"That's the most aggressive half of football I've seen from a Spurs team. At 2-0 up and to get involved with this is stupid," Carragher said, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

"This is shocking. Listen the man he's [Dembele] up against, Diego Costa, how many times have we looked at him for doing things like this? That's the end of (Dembele's) season, there's no doubt about that."