Mile Jedinak faces a four-match ban if he is charged with violent conduct for his elbow on Diafra Sakho in Crystal Palace’s 3-1 victory over West Ham United at Upton Park.
The Football Association is likely to take retrospective action against the Palace captain and refer the incident to the independent regulatory commission if the referee, Mike Dean, states in his report that he and the other match officials missed Jedinak catching Sakho. Jedinak has insisted he did not mean to make contact with the West Ham striker and Palace’s manager, Alan Pardew, defended his player, but the FA’s disciplinary panel may take the opposite view.
Although the punishment for violent conduct is a three-match ban, Jedinak’s red card against Sunderland in November means he would be banned for an extra game if he were to be found guilty. That would mean Jedinak missing games against Southampton, Queens Park Rangers, Stoke City and Manchester City before he returned for the trip to Sunderland on 11 April.
Losing Jedinak for that length of time would be a blow for Palace. They have been without the Australian because of his Asia Cup commitments and the win over West Ham was his first start since 28 December. The midfielder was outstanding until he tackled Sakho in the area as Palace defended their 3-1 lead and then caught him with an elbow to the face.
The controversy marred an excellent performance from Palace, who moved eight points clear of the bottom three and maintained their 100% away record under Pardew thanks to two goals from Glenn Murray, who was later sent off, and one from Scott Dann. Palace have won all five of their away matches since Pardew was appointed at the start of the year but they have not won at Selhurst Park since beating Tottenham Hotspur on 10 January.
“It is just frustrating that we haven’t replicated that at home,” Pardew said. “The home form is everything, I keep telling this group of players. We really need to address that when we play QPR. But a great away win today and we had all the attributes you need for an away win.
“Since I have been here performances at home have been good, actually, and we have been a little bit unlucky to lose, certainly against Arsenal. It is always better to win in front of your own fans at home. Send everyone home happy – all the little kids, because then they will come back week after week.”
Murray is suspended for Tuesday’s trip to Southampton while Jordon Mutch went off injured in the first half. Pardew could have done without Murray getting himself sent off for two bookings given that three of his other strikers, Fraizer Campbell, Marouane Chamakh and Yaya Sanogo, are injured.
For West Ham it was a terrible day at the office and there must be an improvement against Chelsea on Wednesday. Enner Valencia’s late goal was little consolation. “I am really shocked to see the players underperform like we did today,” Sam Allardyce said. “What we don’t want is to drain the confidence. That is the last thing we need.”
Man of the match: Glenn Murray (Crystal Palace)
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