Mohammed Kudus could be hit with a longer ban after being sent off for violent conduct against Tottenham.
The forward saw red in the 86th minute yesterday after lashing out at Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr.
Kudus was originally shown a yellow card by referee Andrew Madley, but this was upgraded to a straight red on VAR review. The forward aimed two kicks at Van de Ven while the defender was on the floor, then shoved the Spurs man in the face after he had got up to confront him. Despite his team-mates’ attempts to retrain him, Kudus then also pushed Sarr in the face.
Violent conduct offences are a minimum three-game ban, but former referee Mike Dean said on Sky Sports that Kudus should receive a stricter punishment.
‘When you see the footage back, the first one he could have got sent off for, which hopefully he has,’ Dean said.
Mohammed Kudus could be hit with a longer ban after being sent off for violent against Spurs
‘Hopefully the second one the FA will then take retrospective action so he’ll get done twice in my opinion because he’s hit two different players in the face on two occasions.’
Joey Barton was given a nine-game ban for three separate violent clashes when he was sent off for Queens Park Rangers against Manchester City in 2012.
West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui claimed not to have seen the incident, but said he would talk to his player in the coming days.
‘We need to talk, but today is not the day,’ Lopetegui said. ‘I am sure he is going to be aware that he can improve his answer in this moment because it’s not good for him, it’s not good for the club, for the team. But I can’t say anything more because I don’t see the action.’
Kudus will now not feature for West Ham until after the next international break, with the forward guaranteed to at least miss games with Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Everton.