The FA have confirmed that they won’t be overturning Max Dowman’s red card, despite former referees arguing that it was a wrongful dismissal.
Arsenal youngster Max Dowman was sent off in the latter stages of the Gunners’ League Cup defeat to Fleetwood Town in midweek, briefly reducing the team to 10 men.
But the bigger impact is that Dowman is now out of action for three domestic fixtures, missing the matches against Liverpool, Hull City, and Newcastle United. The only positive is that he’ll be available for the Champions League match against Slavia Praha in between.
Given the injury to Bukayo Saka and doubts around the fitness of Noni Madueke, as well as the fact that Christos Tzolis has been out of action for a couple of weeks, Arsenal could obviously do without losing Dowman. But their attempt to appeal the red card has already been rejected.
The FA published a statement on Thursday, saying: “An independent Regulatory Commission has dismissed claims of both wrongful dismissal and excessive punishment for Max Dowman.
“The Arsenal player was sent off during their EFL Cup game against Fleetwood Town on Tuesday 27 October and will be suspeneded for three matches.
“The Regulatory Commission’s written reasons for its decisions will be published in due course.”
The decision comes in spite of the fact that former Premier League referees like Mark Halsey had spoken out against the red card.
Dowman was on the end of a heavy challenge, and he reacted with a swing of his leg. But subsequent replays have shown that Dowman was trying to throw off the opponent’s leg, not to kick it, and Halsey didn’t think it met the threshold for violent conduct.
“It’s petulance, it’s not violent, it’s not violent conduct,” Halsey said. “He’s adopted an aggressive attitude towards an opponent, and you can understand why.
“Obviously, difficult for referee Michael Salisbury in real time…I thought it was unfortunate [on Tuesday night] to receive a red card for violent conduct. For me, it wasn’t an act of violent conduct.”
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