West Ham forward Mohammed Kudus has been handed an extra two-game ban after accepting a charge of improper conduct.
Kudus was sent off in the Hammers’ 4-1 defeat by Tottenham on October 19 following two separate violent altercations with Micky van de Ven and Pape Matar Sarr.
The forward received a red card for his first offence, shoving Van de Ven in the face, before being charged retrospectively for a similar incident involving Sarr.
Kudus accepted the Football Association’s charge but put forward mitigation where he apologised for his actions, insisting they were out of character.
He also referenced his previously clean disciplinary record and stated that his preparation for the match had been mentally and physically challenging because he had travelled for a midweek international fixture and had received various negative comments on social media.
Kudus also referred to his work within the community and in his home country of Ghana, stressing how he tried to be a role model.
The forward also stated he felt that Van de Ven had exaggerated the incident as there was minimal contact from him and that he had been reacting to a push from the Tottenham defender.
He said he felt that the referee’s original decision to give him a yellow card was correct and that his actions in relation to Van de Ven did not merit a red card.
Kudus accepted he should not have pushed Sarr in the face and that his action merited a red card.
A regulatory commission decided the FA had been right to treat the two violent incidents as separate and to retrospectively charge Kudus for his violence towards Sarr.
The commission noted that Kudus should be issued with a separate three-game ban, but reduced this to two matches after taking into account his apology and previously clean disciplinary record.
Kudus has already served two of his original three-game ban. The extra sanction means, as well as sitting out Saturday’s game with Everton, he will not be available for fixtures against Arsenal and Newcastle.
The forward has also been fined £60,000 while West Ham have also been fined £30,000 for failing to ensure their players did not act in an improper way.