Liam Rosenior reveals Chelsea held team meeting after Wesley Fofana racial abuse

The red card was the sixth Chelsea have received in the Premier League this season as the Blues lost ground in the top four race following Zian Flemming's late equaliser. The Stamford Bridge stalemate means the west London side have now failed to win their last two league matches having been held at home by promoted pair Leeds and Burnley.

Fofana's dismissal means he is suspended for Sunday's trip to rivals and Premier League leaders Arsenal. Sadly, the 25-year-old received racist messages on his Instagram in the wake of the draw as the defender posted a screenshot of some of the heinous messages that he had been sent.

The Frenchman then sent a follow up post, with the message: "2026 and it is still the same thing. Nothing changes. These people are never punished. You create big campaigns against racism, but nobody actually does anything."

Burnley midfielder Hannibal Mejbri also received abuse following the game, which prompted the 23-year-old to state: "It’s 2026, and there are still people like this. Educate yourself and your kids, please."

The Clarets put out their own release, which read: "The club has reported the post to Instagram's parent company, Meta, and expects strong support from them, together with the Premier League and the police, and will work to ensure that the individual responsible is identified and investigated," the statement read.

"There is no place for this in our society and we condemn it unreservedly. The club continues to be unequivocal in its stance – we have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination. Hannibal will receive the full backing from the club and from the Burnley fans, who we have already seen condemning the abuse. There is no room for racism."

Chelsea, meanwhile, also released a statement of their own, which read: "Chelsea Football Club is appalled and disgusted by vile online racist abuse directed at Wesley Fofana. The targeted racist abuse Wes has been subjected to following today’s Premier League fixture against Burnley is abhorrent and will not be tolerated. Such behaviour is completely unacceptable and runs counter to the values of the game and everything we stand for as a club.

"There is no room for racism. We stand unequivocally with Wes. He has our full support, as do all our players who are too often forced to endure this hatred simply for doing their job. We will work with the relevant authorities and platforms in identifying the perpetrators and take the strongest possible action."

The Premier League then responded, stating: "We stand alongside Wesley Fofana and Chelsea in condemning the vile racist abuse he has received on social media. Racism has no place in our game or anywhere in society and we will continue to do all we can to support players who are subjected to discriminatory abuse. Football is for everyone."

And Rosenior has since revealed that Dr Michael Bennett, who was hired by the club last summer to act as the head of performance wellbeing, met with the players on Friday. "The players have incredible support both on and off the pitch," Rosenior said when asked what help Chelsea have provided in light of the abuse sent to Fofana.

"They had a meeting with Doctor Michael Bennett today about his involvement in the club and how he can help with anything off the pitch.

"It was obviously a tough day for Wes, firstly what happened in the game and then the fall-out, the racist abuse he got online. Wes is a tough guy, a good guy.

"It is amazing, you spoke about racism last week in the press conference and it affects you in ways that, it just shouldn’t exist whether it is online or verbal in person. It is something we have to do our best to eradicate from life let alone football. But Wes is absolutely fine, he has trained well this week."

Fofana and Mejbri were two of four Premier League players to receive racial abuse via social media last weekend. And when quizzed over whether he had asked his players to come off it for good in light of last week's incidents, Rosenior said: "In terms of social media, the generation now, it is a part of the younger generation, part of their life.

"In a perfect world, players don’t take notice of what’s on social media but in reality they do because they are human beings. It is very easy to write whatever you want with no consequences when you are on social media.

"I hope that the players who are on it, who take those things in, take in the fact that it’s just noise, that it’s a lot of people with a lot of opinions. Some are valid and some come from a place where it is probably not a good place."