The Athletic's David Ornstein spoke about what it might mean for Chelsea and Manchester City to take 10 points off Everton in the Premier League standings.
"The first thing to note is that these cases are not the same. Both Manchester City's and Chelsea's charges are different from the single charge of Everton.
We can say that Everton's case was quite simple, in the sense that they are believed to have breached the permissible limits of financial loss. They also cooperated with the Premier League, and they basically put their hands up and admitted that there was a breach, although there is disagreement about how big that breach was.
We have not been told what is going on [in the City case]. Many of these allegations are repeated from season to season, so it's not necessarily 115 allegations. The number is lower. "City are contesting and strongly denying the allegations, so there is no guarantee that the two cases will be treated in the same way.
In the case of City, and especially Chelsea, it's like comparing apples and pears. "What was interesting about Everton's statement was that they were going to follow up on the cases against the other clubs, and I think it's going to be a big story.
The Premier League and the authorities will be under increasing pressure to deal with these cases to ensure the integrity of the competition in the future, fairness and a level playing field for all," the journalist said.
Ornstein also suggested that 2024 could be a "decisive year" in the City case, although he added that there is no official word on when the case will be heard.
It is worth noting that City faced 115 charges of breaching Premier League rules, mainly related to the club's finances. Chelsea is still under investigation in connection with alleged secret transfer payments made by the club under Roman Abramovich.
