Chelsea are back in the dock after the English FA charged the Premiership champions yesterday with failing to control their players.

The charge relates to Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Fulham, and an incident which followed the late dismissal of William Gallas.

Referee Mike Dean told the FA Chelsea players had surrounded one of his linesmen in "an aggressive manner" after Gallas had been shown the red card.

However, a Chelsea spokesman said: "We will respond in due course with a robust defence."

It is the second time in a little more than a fortnight that the champions have been charged with an incident concerning the conduct of their players.

The first came after a game at West Brom, when Chelsea surrounded referee Mark Halsey after a nasty tackle on Claude Makelele by Ronnie Wallwork.

Chelsea have denied the charge of failing to control their players at West Brom and have until April 7th to respond officially to yesterday's charge.

An FA spokesman said: "Referee Mike Dean and assistant referee Andy Williams reported to the FA that, in their view, a number of players had surrounded Williams in an aggressive manner."

Chelsea will be surprised that Fulham escape without charges because their players also surrounded referee Dean in a similar incident when home players were protesting to the referee about a disallowed 'goal' scored by Didier Drogba.

Drogba had used his hand to control the ball before scoring and, after consulting with linesman Paul Norman, Dean decided not to award the goal.

An FA spokesman said: "Mike Dean confirmed that, in his view, the conduct of Fulham players in the 57th minute did not warrant a report to the FA."

Gallas, who made 'thumbs-down' gestures to Fulham fans as he left the pitch, has been warned about his future conduct but will not receive any further punishment on top of his automatic three-match ban.

The FA are also investigating the post-match pitch invasion and requested detailed reports from the police and Fulham.

The charges against Chelsea will do little to ease Jose Mourinho's recently-expressed fears that there is a conspiracy against his club.

Meanwhile, Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon has denied accusations that Shaun Wright-Phillips is a diver.

Wright-Phillips was accused of play-acting by Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder and Alan Shearer to get Robbie Elliott sent off in the last minute of Chelsea's FA Cup midweek quarter-final win.

Kenyon said: "He's not that type of player in my opinion. He is certainly a fair player and he is not someone who goes to get players sent off. It was an unfortunate comment.

Chelsea yesterday announced their decision to allow disabled fans to watch their games for free at Stamford Bridge next season.

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