If the 3-1 defeat to Chelsea that left his side 14 points off the summit wasn’t galling enough, the dismissal of his skipper added insult to injury for David Moyes. Nemanja Vidic’s 90th-minute sending-off for a late tackle on Eden Hazard means the centre-half will now miss the next three matches across all competitions as the beleaguered United boss attempts to salvage his debut season at the helm:
After having his appeal for wrongful dismissal rejected earlier today, Vidic will now be sidelined for Wednesday’s Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Sunderland as the Red Devils attempt to turn around a 2-1 deficit at Old Trafford. The Serbian will also be an absentee for the subsequent two league matches – at home to Cardiff a week tomorrow and away to Stoke the following weekend – before being available for selection ahead of the Gameweek 25 visit of Fulham. His Old Trafford team-mate Rafael was a little lucky not to join Vidic on the naughty step after his two-footed challenge on Gary Cahill was only deemed worthy of a yellow card.
Elsewhere, Hull’s Tom Huddlestone is suspended for one match this weekend after earning a couple of yellow cards in last Saturday’s defat at Norwich. The midfielder is available for Gameweek 23, though, and will instead sit out the Tigers’ FA Cup Fourth Round trip to Southend.
This morning, the FA charged Nicolas Anelka for his gesture during the December 28 clash with West Ham. The Baggies forward has until 6pm on Thursday evening to respond to the charge.
In terms of yellow cards accumulated over the previous Gameweek, Aston Villa continue to rack up the bookings. Ciaran Clark earned his seventh caution of the campaign against Liverpool on Saturday evening, whilst Ashley Westwood and Karim El Ahmadi picked up their sixth and fifth respectively. Bearing in mind Paul Lambert’s side also have Fabian Delph on eight bookings and Gabby Agbonlahor sitting on seven, the Midlands side are certainly living up to their “Villains” nickname.
Indeed, no other team has five players with five or more cautions – United, Chelsea and Newcastle are the closest, with four culpable players apiece.
