Jose Mourinho is set for another run-in with football's authorities - and just as bad - the threatened loss of another key player for three matches.
The Chelsea boss's prickly response to a late scrum of players with Branislav Ivanovic at the heart, could come back to bite the Special One.
The Blues left it to the 89th minute for a Willian strike that won them all three points and kept open the seven point game between Blues and nearest challengers Manchester City.
Moments earlier, a melee surrounding the sending off of Gareth Barry, saw Everton boss Roberto Martinez question the actions of Ivanovic.
“If you look at the images, Ivanovic’s behaviour is wrong,” said Martinez.
“He grabs him around the neck in a forceful manner then puts his head against him when James McCarthy didn’t react and, if you want to be on top of the laws, that’s a red card.”
Mourinho waked out of a post-match TV interview, and threatened to end his post-match press conference when this issue was raised by reporters.
The incident looked less the claimed head butt, and more a less headline-grabbing nose-to-shoulder. But that will not dim the calls of those seeking retrospective action – and, in turn, stoke Mourinho's own claims of a 'campaign' against Chelsea.
If the former get their own way, that will see Chelsea without Ivanovic for games against Burnley, Tottenham (the League Cup Final) and West Ham.
Meanwhile, one thing Mourinho was happy to talk abut was the spirit of his players to hold on for three points.
“The players will is more important than anything,” he said. “The nucleus of everything is the players’ desire and you saw that today.
“A team without lots of important players, with (John) Terry in trouble (recovering from illness), (Cesc) Fabregas coming back from injury, Willian slightly injured, without Oscar and without Diego Costa. They showed fantastic spirit.”
Chelsea sit out this coming FA Cup fifth round weekend, before travelling to the French capital on Tuesday to face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
