West Ham United have been dealt a major blow in their battle to avoid relegation after it was confirmed they will be without Andy Carroll for their next three matches, the English FA rejecting an appeal against the striker’s red card in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Swansea City.

Carroll was sent off by Howard Webb after a clash with Chico Flores during the second half at Upton Park. However, replays showed that after an aerial tussle Carroll had caught Flores on the top of the head with a stray arm, only for the Swansea defender to fall to the ground clutching his face.

Sam Allardyce announced West Ham’s intention to appeal immediately after the match and also criticised Flores’s play-acting, with Swansea’s then manager, Michael Laudrup, agreeing the sending off looked harsh. But after assessing written evidence from the match officials and West Ham, as well as video footage of the incident, a three-man FA Independent Regulatory Commission rejected the claim for wrongful dismissal, ruling that “no obvious” error had been made.

The decision to uphold the decision drew a furious reaction from Carroll, who tweeted: “DISGRACEFUL!!!” However, West Ham will not pursue the matter further, accepting that there is nothing more that they can do about the situation.

“West Ham United’s Andy Carroll will serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect after his claim of wrongful dismissal was rejected by an Independent Regulatory Commission,” the FA said in a statement.

Losing Carroll for Saturday’s trip to Aston Villa and home matches against Norwich City and Southampton on February 11th and 22nd respectively comes as a setback for West Ham, whose results had improved after the 25-year-old’s return following a heel injury that had kept him out of action since May.

Guardian Service