Arsenal and Chelsea have been charged with misconduct by the Football Association for the mass brawl during their Carling Cup final on Sunday. Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue has also been charged with violent conduct for striking Chelsea's Wayne Bridge while Emmanuel Adebayor, the Arsenal forward, has been charged with reacting aggressively and failing to leave the field of play immediately after being sent off following the melee.

A statement from the FA read: "Arsenal and Chelsea have been charged with misconduct for an incident involving players and officials from both clubs towards the end of the Carling Cup final on Sunday, February 25. The charge alleges that the clubs failed to ensure that their players and/or officials conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative and/or violent behaviour.

"The clubs have until March 14 to respond. There are no individual charges against officials from either Arsenal or Chelsea.

"Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue has been charged with violent conduct for striking Chelsea's Wayne Bridge. He has until 6pm tomorrow to respond, and the case will be heard by a disciplinary commission on Thursday on the basis of documents and video evidence.

"His team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor has been charged with reacting aggressively and failing to leave the field of play immediately after being sent off. He has until 6pm tomorrow to respond to the charge and his case will be heard by a disciplinary commission on Tuesday, March 6. As this charge is outside the jurisdiction of the match officials (he had already been sent off), he has the right to a personal hearing."

The clubs' appeals against red cards shown to Adebayor and Jon Obi Mikel, the Chelsea midfield player, were also rejected.Adebayor will serve a three-match ban, while Mikel will miss Chelsea's next four domestic matches as it was his second dismissal of the season.

Kolo Toure has not appealed against his sending-off and the Arsenal defender will serve a three-match ban, starting with the FA Cup fifth-round replay against Blackburn Rovers tomorrow.

As Toure triggered the fracas by confronting Mikel, it may be seen as fitting that Arsenal face the heavier charge sheet, in keeping with their woeful disciplinary record under Arsène Wenger. They have collected 68 red cards in ten years under the Frenchman, though they appeared to have cleaned up their act in recent years as the 50th was incurred in the 2003 Community Shield against Manchester United.

It is the fourth time in 12 months that Chelsea have been charged with failing to control their players They were fined a total of £35,000 for similar offences against Blackburn, West Bromwich Albion and Fulham last season.

Keith Hackett, general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd, earlier called on the FA to take firm action, while praising Howard Webb, the referee, for his handling of the incident. “He handled things extremely well yesterday,” Hackett said. “I was pleased with the referee and his assistants. They stuck to our directives in terms of how we manage mass confrontations. It was a pity because it was a fantastic game.”

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