West Ham lose appeal over the sending-off of goalkeeper Adrian
West Ham have lost their appeal over the sending-off of goalkeeper Adrian against Leicester and his three-match ban starts immediately.
The goalkeeper will miss the matches with Bournemouth, Liverpool and Newcastle after a wrongful dismissal claim was rejected, the Football Association has announced. Adrian was sent off late in last weekend's 2-1 loss for a challenge on Jamie Vardy after he went up for a corner.
A statement from the FA read: "A claim of wrongful dismissal submitted by West Ham United in relation to Adrian has been unsuccessful following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing earlier today. The goalkeeper was dismissed for serious foul play during the game against Leicester City on Saturday (August 15, 2015). Therefore, the player's three-match suspension, which is the standard penalty for this offence, remains with immediate effect. For a club to be successful with a claim of wrongful dismissal, it must prove to an Independent Regulatory Commission via written and/or video evidence that the match referee made an obvious error."
West Ham boss Slaven Bilic said on Saturday that the challenge "could have been seen as a red (card)" but "it's obvious he didn't mean it to kick Vardy... it wasn't intentional." Adrian took to Twitter to say his actions did not warrant a sending off from referee Anthony Taylor. But the pleas were dismissed and it now appears summer signing Darren Randolph will come in for Saturday's match at home to Bournemouth.
However, there may yet be competition in the form of ex-England goalkeeper Robert Green, who is reportedly close to returning to his former club from QPR.
