Having played his part in the tussle that saw Andy Carroll suspended for violent conduct back in Gameweek 24, Swansea’s Chico Flores took centre stage in last Sunday’s home draw with Palace. The Spaniard was sent packing for denying Glenn Murray a goal-scoring opportunity at the Liberty and will resultantly serve a one-match ban next time around:
With no fixture this weekend, the Swans centre-half will be sidelined for the Gameweek 30 home clash against West Brom before returning to action the following weekend as Garry Monk’s men pay visit to Everton.
Chico is one of just two players currently unavailable for selection. Nicolas Anelka was handed a five-match ban by the FA last week for his “quenelle” gesture against West Ham back in late December. The detailed reasons behind the decision are expected to be made public today and the West Brom forward may yet decide to appeal the verdict – in the meantime, the Baggies have suspended the player until the situation is clarified, with some reports yesterday suggesting the FA could even extend the Frenchman’s spell on the sidelines.
Charlie Adam’s Fantasy owners are awaiting news after the FA charged the Stoke midfielder with violent conduct yesterday. If found guilty, the Scot could be set for a three-match ban for his alleged stamp on Olivier Giroud during the Potters’ 1-0 win over Arsenal last weekend – he has until 6pm today to respond, though his club have already confirmed they will “appeal vigorously” against the decision. Stoke owner Peter Coates slammed the verdict as “appalling”, going on to say:
“We are disgusted. Charlie absolutely assures us it was not intentional. I defy anyone to look at that and say it was. We will defend it vigorously. Yaya Toure recently lashed out at a player (Norwich’s Ricky van Wolfswinkel) and nothing got done. We are shocked and believe the charge is totally unnecessary.”
On this week’s Suspension Tightrope, we now have 10 players with eight or more yellows to their name. West Brom’s Jonas Olsson leads the way on nine – one more caution before the next amnesty (Gameweek 34) and he will pick up a ban.
Chelsea’s Ramires is the latest addition to our list after being booked in Saturday’s win at London neighbours Fulham. The Brazilian is one of six midfielders who have now accrued eight cautions – Fabian Delph, Gareth Barry, Cheick Tiote, Jon Walters and Claudio Yacob are the other guilty parties – whilst David Luiz, Marouane Chamakh and Wayne Rooney also need to tread carefully in order to avoid incurring the referee’s wrath.
10 years, 2 months agoso I take it a lot of other people are seriously considering dropping Hazard (if you're me, in favor of Stevie)?