Essien facing trial by TV

The Football Association have confirmed they are awaiting the match report of referee Rob Styles before considering whether any further action needs to be taken against Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien for Saturday’s horror challenge on Bolton defender Tal Ben Haim.

Essien appeared lucky to escape with a yellow card after lunging wildly at the Israeli international.

Styles has admitted he will look at a video replay of the incident before deciding whether to take any further action.

He said: “I was fairly close to the incident and had a good view. I’ll have another look at the video on Tuesday.”

Bolton boss Sam Allardyce was understandably incensed after his side’s 5-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge and accused Essien of feigning injury after the foul in order to mislead Styles.

“He was very, very clever,” said Allardyce. “I’m shocked he was not sent off. But Essien went down as if he was injured himself.

“He knew it was a bad tackle, of course he did, we all knew apart from the referee unfortunately. He booked him but he knows it should have been a red.”