And, in a dramatic reversal of the League Cup defeat at Highbury in 1990, Arsenal have won it 6-2. And we win the tie-breaker too since the club have also been charged for "failing to ensure the proper behaviour of their players".

The Arsenal players charged are:

Ashley Cole

"improper conduct" for confronting Ronaldo at the final whistle

Martin Keown

"violent behaviour" for hitting van Nostrilroy on the back of the head at the whistle, and "improper conduct" for confronting him after the penalty miss

Lauren

"violent behaviour" for kicking out at Fortune following the penalty award and pushing RVN in theback at the whistle, plus "improper conduct" for confronting RVN after the red card and confronting Giggs at the whistle

Jens Lehmann

"improper conduct" for confronting the ref after the red card and "persistently seeking to confront" RVN

Ray Parlour

"violent behaviour" for "grabbing at Gary Neville from behind" (!) and confronting RVN at the whistle

Patrick Vieira

"improper conduct" for failing to get off the pitch quick when sent off

Ryan Giggs

"improper conduct" for "his involvement in a confrontation" with Lauren at the whistle

Cristiano Ronaldo

"improper conduct" for confronting Keown at the whistle

All parties have 14 days to respond.

The Arsenal board have responded with this statement which says they take it seriously but are not going to jump to any conclusions. They're waiting for the full video evidence from the FA.

The received wisdom in most reports seems to be that hefty fine and some suspensions (for the violent behaviour charges) are likely, but points deductions are not. Arsenal were fanmously docked 2 points (and United 1) for the Old Trafford brawl just a couple of weeks before the League Cup defeat I mentioned above. Arsenal went on to win the league at a canter that season, but this year it's fair to suppose that a couple of points could make all the difference.

Of course, it was all a bit of a storm in a teacup. No-one was hurt on Sunday were they? And it's not the first time there's been a bit of pushing and "confronting" on a football field. If the FA come down hard on Arsenal, and claim it's part of a new drive to clamp down on this sort of thing, then they're going to be inviting very close inspection of their own future conduct.

It is surprising to me, for example, that they bothered with the improper conduct charges for "confronting". Doesn't that sort of thing happen all the time after controversial red card incidents? Do we really want a game in which players can't "confront" each other? And the FA have already managed to turn a blind eye to a worse incident: what about Quinton Fortune's assault on Jens Lehmann which was caught on camera while the argument obver the penalty decision was going on?

What seems certain is that the FA will fail to admit any culpability. It's not just Arsenal-sympathetic observers like us who are saying that appointing Community Shield ref Bennett was a mistake. Of course, the identity of the ref does not excuse any naughtiness on Arsenal's part. But if they are truly interested in clamping down on stuff like this then the FA should be looking at what they can do themselves to stop it happening as well as what they can do after it has happened.