Djorkaeff accused of feigning injury

Chelsea's Celestine Babayaro has accused Bolton's Youri Djorkaeff of feigning injury in order to get him sent off.

Chelsea's Celestine Babayaro has accused Bolton's Youri Djorkaeff of feigning injury in order to get him sent off.

Chelsea defender Babayaro was red-carded for an alleged elbow on the France World Cup winner in Saturday's 1-1 draw at the Reebok Stadium.

"He's an experienced player and one who will do anything to win a game," Babayaro told today's London Evening Standard.

"As soon as I left the pitch he stood up and carried on with the game," the Nigerian international added.

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"The video shows I did not intentionally elbow him. That's what he is saying, but if you look at the video you can see my eyes were on the ball," Babayaro insisted.

"It was a goal-kick from Jussi Jaaskelainen and I was positioning myself to head the ball away.

"Then suddenly Djorkaeff was lying on the floor holding onto his face. The linesman on the left-hand side had his flag up and after a chat with the referee he decided to send me off.

"As soon as the players came back to the dressing room I said, 'I'm going to appeal against that. It's not on, I didn't touch him.'

"If I had touched him, he wouldn't have been able to stand up as soon as I had returned to the dressing room. He would have been lying there for a few minutes."

Babayaro is now set to miss two Premiership matches and a League Cup fixture or three league games.

But Chelsea are set to contest the defender's punishment. "I need to appeal against that because I can't be out of the team now that they're doing really well," Babayaro said.

"We're winning games home and away, are fourth in the Premiership and I don't want to miss out on that. If I get a three-match ban, then that would be too much."

PA