The 10-point deduction sanction on Everton by the Premier League (PL) has increased the worries of Manchester City and Chelsea who have dozens of Financial Fair Play (FFP) charges pending of the same nature.
Everton’s 10-point penalty was the biggest ever in the history of PL to date as they now sit on 19th position in the points table with just four points from 12 matches and can likely be relegated considering their current form.
Chelsea and Man City have many FFP cases pending of the same nature as Everton’s but it is yet to be seen if the PL would be able to punish these two big clubs like the Merseyside club.
A whopping 115 cases are pending for Man City who have had countless FFP breaches in the last six to seven years and Stefan Borson, a lawyer who has been advising the club in these matters, believes that penalty to Everton has set a dangerous example.
"To me, 10 points for Everton seems harsh for a simple FFP infringement," he explained on X, formerly Twitter.
"But it reinforces that sanctions against City (if proven) and now Chelsea (if collected and admitted in unrecorded payments) could induce relegation.
"One thing is for sure, given the magnitude of this sporting sanction, Chelsea's calculation [in my opinion] that they could breach PL P&S [Profit & Sustainability] and simply accept a fine as a cost of doing business, should be on urgent and immediate reconsideration.
"The January window may be interesting. Even in a best-case scenario, they can no longer be confident that they can convince an Independent Commission to accept their Covid and Sanctions allocations as exceptional adjustments (to the extent that was the plan)."
Meanwhile, UK’s The Times’ journalist, Martyn Ziegler, argued that relegation for the two clubs remains a possibility.
"I think it will be much more serious for both Manchester City and Chelsea if their charges are proven," he told talkSPORT.
"I mean Man City have received 115 charges, Everton only had one and Chelsea are still under investigation, so we don't know the number of charges there.
"If you look at Manchester City, there are many more charges, but they are much more serious.
"So Manchester City will have a real fear that they will face possible relegation from the Premier League."