(Reuters) - West Ham United manager David Moyes described Arthur Masuaku's actions as "despicable" after the defender was shown a straight red card for spitting at Wigan Athletic midfielder Nick Powell in their FA Cup defeat on Saturday.
Wigan pulled off the big shock of the fourth round when the team from the third tier of English football knocked out the Premier League side with striker Will Grigg's double sealing a famous 2-0 victory.
West Ham were reduced to 10 men when Masuaku was sent off soon after the break for spitting and the defender apologised for his conduct on Sunday.
"I want to say sorry for my actions yesterday," he said on Twitter. "It was in the heat of the moment and out of character for me but I know it was totally unacceptable and I will learn from the first red card of my career."
Masuaku is facing the prospect of a six-game ban and Moyes said that the club would also take disciplinary action against him.
"It was despicable," Moyes said. "I've not seen it from him. We like him, he's a really good boy around the club... it is out of character."
"He will deserve everything he gets and he'll get something he deserves from us. It's unacceptable."
West Ham, who are 11th in the Premier League, take on 13th-placed Crystal Palace on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty and Clare Fallon)
