West Ham United have appealed successfully against Cheikhou Kouyaté’s one-match suspension for the Senegalese’s red card during the club’s 5-1 win at Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.
With the score in the FA Cup fifth-round tie at 3-1, Kouyaté was dismissed by referee for denying Blackburn an obvious goalscoring opportunity after bringing Adam Henley down just outside West Ham’s penalty area. However, it appeared that Henley had overhit the ball and would not have been able to score and this punishment has been withdrawn with immediate effect following an independent regulatory commission on Tuesday.
The West Ham co-chairman David Gold had announced on Monday that the club would appeal against the one-match ban. “Yes, we will appeal Kouyaté’s red card, which we believe was a mistake by the referee. The Blackburn player wasn’t going to get the ball anyway so he wasn’t denied a goalscoring opportunity,” he tweeted.
Kouyaté had been set to miss West Ham’s Premier League match this weekend against Sunderland but is now in contention to start for Slaven Bilic’s team. The London club are currently 7th, seven points behind Manchester City in fourth.
Following their comprehensive win at Ewood Park, West Ham now face a trip to Manchester United in the FA Cup sixth round, after Louis van Gaal’s team came through their Monday night tie at Shrewsbury Town.
