Chelsea have contacted Instagram over the sickening racial abuse suffered by defender Wesley Fofana following Sunday's defeat to Arsenal.

French defender Fofana shared some of the abuse he received to his own Instagram Story, and the club have responded by saying they are "appalled and disgusted" over the online targeting of some of their players.

The club want Instagram to remove the messages entirely from the platform, and say they are committed to working with the social media giant in order to drive change.

The Blues said: "Chelsea Football Club is appalled and disgusted by the recent rise in online racial abuse towards our players.

"The abuse Wes Fofana has been subjected to following yesterday’s fixture is abhorrent and will not be tolerated.

"Wes and all our players have our full support. We will work with the relevant authorities in identifying the perpetrators and take the strongest possible action."

Fofana started at right-back and played for 86 minutes of Chelsea's 1-0 loss to the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium, where Mikel Merino scored the game's only goal in the first half.

The former Leicester defender was booked in the clash, and was accused of a stamp by Declan Rice during fiery confrontations.

Fofana criticised his team-mate Enzo Fernandez after he was filmed singing a racist song about French players of African origin following Argentina's Copa America win last summer, calling the song "unihibited racism" before later coming out in support of Fernandez after he admitted his wrongdoing.

"Enzo Fernandez said sorry. He did not want to hurt French fans or anyone," said Fofana last July.

"He did not understand when singing it, I trust him. Because I know him. I know Enzo. He is not racist. I'm happy to see Enzo back. We play together. We need to stay together. We're strong together.