Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur charged by FA after melee at end of feisty FA Cup clash
Aston Villa and Tottenham have been hit with misconduct charges after their players were involved in a heated confrontation at the end of their FA Cup tie on Saturday.
Tempers boiled over at the final whistle as Villa won 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, as Spurs midfielder Joao Palhinha angrily confronted Villa striker Ollie Watkins, who was celebrating in front of Villa's 9,000 jubilant travelling fans.
That sparked an angry response from Villa's Morgan Rogers and Lemar Bogarde, both of whom intervened and Rogers was involved in some pushing and shoving with Palhina before more players from both sides joined the melee.
Spurs boss Thomas Frank later claimed Watkins had been 'provoking' Palhina by celebrating directly in front of the Tottenham man - who had been involved in several fractious moments with Villa players during the game and had put in a tackle which forced Boubacar Kamara to limp off after just 10 minutes.
Now, both clubs have been charged with misconduct by the FA. The governing body said in a statement: "Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa have been charged with misconduct following their FA Cup match on Saturday January 10.
"It's alleged that both clubs failed to to ensure their players and/or officials did not behave in an improper and/or provocative way after the final whistle.
"Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur have until Friday January 16 to provide a response."
