Chelsea has suspended four people from attending the Premier League club's matches pending further investigations into allegations regarding the behavior of supporters toward Manchester City's Raheem Sterling.
The announcement comes after an incident during the first half of Saturday's 2-0 win over the reigning Premier League champions at Stamford Bridge as Sterling collected the ball from beyond the byline.
Chelsea and the Metropolitan Police launched investigations into whether the England international was racially abused by spectators.
In announcing the suspensions as they continue to look into the matter, the club stated its intention to hand out "severe sanctions" to any ticket-holders who are shown to have committed racist behavior.
"Our investigations into this matter are ongoing. We are fully supporting the police investigation and any information we gather will be passed on to them," Chelsea said in a statement.
"Chelsea Football Club finds all forms of discriminatory behaviour abhorrent and if there is evidence of ticket holders taking part in any racist behaviour, the club will issue severe sanctions, including bans. We will also fully support any criminal prosecutions."
In an Instagram post criticizing the coverage black players receive in the British media, Sterling referenced what happened in the fixture.
"Regarding what was said at the Chelsea game, as you can see by my reaction I just had to laugh because I don't expect no better," he wrote.
