Chelsea have appealed Thibaut Courtois’ red card today, in an attempt to prevent the ‘keeper from facing suspension. The Belgian international was shown a straight red card in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at home to Swansea City for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity for Bafetimbi Gomis, when he collided with the Swansea striker on the edge of the penalty area 52 minutes into the Premier League clash.

Referee Michael Oliver awarded a penalty and sent Courtois straight off. Substitute goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, who joined the Blues from Stoke this summer, made his first competitive Chelsea appearance as a result of the dismissal. The Bosnian told the club’s official website that it was not an ideal circumstance to make his debut, and that his teammate did not deserve to be dismissed. Begovic was unable to prevent Gomis converting the spot-kick.

“It was unfortunate with the penalty.” said Begovic.

“I saw it in real time from the bench. It was a difficult one to make out. I think it was harsh to send him off, our guys were covering Thibaut.”

“When you go down to 10 men it puts you on the back foot, but we stuck together well, showed good resilience and kept it to the two goals they scored. It was a decent point in the end. We’ll take the point and move on to next week.”

The BBC has reported that the Football Association will hear the appeal on Tuesday but Courtois is likely to be given a one-match ban, which would see him miss Sunday’s meeting with Manchester City.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho declined to comment on the situation.

[Quotes via ESPN]