MIKEL OBI BANNED JUST AFTER SIGNING A NEW FIVE-YEAR DEAL WITH CHELSEA

Mikel Obi, who renewed is contract for five more years with the club on Tuesday 4th Dec., has been given a three-match suspension and fined £60,000 for his part in the Mark Clattenburg race row debacle. The Chelsea midfielder ran into the referee’s dressing room at the end of Chelsea’s defeat against Manchester United in October and confronted him over an alleged racial slur, using threatening and abusive words.

Mikel had already admitted a charge that he confronted referee Mark Clattenburg in the official’s changing room after the game before Thursday’s personal hearing. The suspension will take effect immediately and rule Mikel out of domestic duty until Boxing Day.