West Ham were told by a top referee to expect Mohammed Kudus to be handed a six-game ban and now he’s about to discover his fate.
Although somewhat fortuitous. the win over Man United was made all the more surprising given West Ham were without star player Mohammed Kudus.
Ironically Crysencio Summerville, the man who ultimately replaced Kudus – once Julen Lopetegui had seen sense and brought him on at half-time – stole the show and scored as the Hammers won 2-1.
Summerville even celebrated with suspended Kudus as he sat behind the dugout to watch his teammates.
The Ghanaian was shown a red card for a moment of madness which saw three Spurs players strewn across the pitch.
It all kicked off – quite literally – when Kudus kicked the ball against Mickey van de Ven while he was on the floor.
West Ham’s best player then reacted to the towering defender calling him crazy and pushing him by returning the compliment, catching the Dutchman in the face.
Van de Ven hit the deck and Kudus was then pushed into Richarlison, leaving the Brazilian floored as well.
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West Ham told when Kudus will discover Premier League ban fate
Pape Matar Sarr was next to test Kudus. As the Tottenham midfielder confronted the West Ham star, he took a shove to the face as well.
Initially the referee did try to use common sense by giving both Kudus and Van de Ven yellow cards.
That proved to be merely delaying the inevitable, though. VAR intervened and a pitch-side review saw Kudus’ yellow cancelled and a red card produced instead.
It means the Ghanaian missed West Ham’s win over Man United and will be banned for upcoming Premier League games against Forest and Everton before the November international break.
There was a shocking twist last week when top former referee Mike Dean claimed Kudus faced a six-game ban for his actions.
Dean said Kudus would be charged over the ‘separate incident’ involving Sarr.
Sure enough the FA hit Kudus with the charge which West Ham appealed.
Now West Ham have been told when Kudus will discover his six-game Premier League ban fate.
West Ham have two pieces of evidence up their sleeve
According to Hammers insider Sean Whetstone, the result of the appeal tribunal for Kudus will be announced before the trip to Forest at the weekend.
And the Hammers have two pieces of evidence up their sleeve to support their case.
“West Ham expects to find out the result of a FA appeal tribunal for Mohammed Kudus before the weekend,” Whetstone said on X.
“The Hammer was accused of “allegedly acting in an improper manner and/or used violent conduct after the offence he was sent off for”.
“Kudus was present at the London Stadium on Sunday to watch the Hammers beat Manchester United and now has already served one of his original three match game bans.
“The appeal is limited to second charge and the possibility of a further ban beyond three games. What triggered Kudus and what was said by a Spurs player will be provided in evidence to the tribunal.”
If Kudus’ ban is extended it means he would miss West Ham’s games against Newcastle, Arsenal and Leicester after the November break.
Therefore he would not be available again for the Hammers until Wolves at home on December 9th.
After the red card, Lopetegui – who had a bust-up with Kudus at Brentford – said the attacker must improve his behaviour.