Red Men Miss the Final

Luis Garcia and Hayden Mullins have had their appeals for the red cards they earned on Wednesday turned down by the FA. Both players will therefore recieve three-match suspensions which means they will miss the last two games of the Premiership and the FA Cup Final.

West Ham United manager Alan Pardew had joined Rafael Benitez in asking the FA to show leniency straight after the game, but a disciplinary commission hearing on Friday rejected the claims.

Garcia had aimed an elbow at fellow midfielder Mullins' back before going to ground after a shove by his rival as the duo fought for the ball eight minutes from time.

Pardew said:

"I feel very aggrieved and very upset because Hayden has had a fantastic season. He has been one of our best players. He was my first signing here, I'm very proud of him, of what he has done and achieved. I for one will be very sad if he misses the final and I know Hayden will be feeling a lot worse than I will be."

Rafa added:

"Luis is very disappointed. I said to him after the game that he had made a big mistake as you can't lose your control before important games. Maybe for the future this will be good for Luis and the rest of the players because they can see what could happen."

To be honest, Luis has got what he deserves. It was a bad tempered elbow by the Spaniard after he failed to cling onto Mullins arm which followed an aggresive tackle by Mullins. Hayden is a little unlucky though - a push for an elbow in the back is surely not a three-match ban offense.

West Ham will suffer for missing Hayden and that will be good for Liverpool at least. We can cope more easily without Luis, although he would have been useful as he has a habit of scoring in important games.