Arsenal
Liverpool Defender Hit By FA Charge For De Gea Stamp, Set To Miss Arsenal Game
Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel has been charged by the FA for an alleged stamp on Manchester United’s David De Gea and is set to miss a crunch game at Arsenal
Martin Skrtel has been charged by the FA for an alleged stamp on Manchester United’s David De Gea….
Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel is set to miss their crunch clash with Arsenal after being charged by the Football Association for an alleged stamp on Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea.
Skrtel appeared to stamp on the Spaniard’s leg as he chased down a long ball during the closing stages of United’s 2-1 victory at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
The FA announced this morning that they were looking into the incident and they’ve now confirmed on the fa.com that Skrtel has been charged with violent conduct as the incident was not seen by the match officials at the time.
A statement read:
Martin Skrtel has been charged by The FA for violent conduct following an on-field incident which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.
The charge is in relation to an incident involving the Liverpool defender and Manchester United’s David de Gea which occurred in the 95th minute of Sunday’s game.
The Slovakian centre-back has until 6pm on Tuesday to respond to the charge and if found guilty, he faces a three-game ban which would rule him out of Liverpool’s crucial clash against Arsenal immediately after the international break.
The Merseysiders now sit five points behind fourth-placed United and six behind the Gunners following yesterday’s loss, so they desperately need a positive result at the Emirates to keep their Champions League qualification hopes alive.
The loss of Skrtel would be another blow to Brendan Rodgers who is already going to be without skipper Steven Gerrard after his sending off at Anfield while Adam Lallana and Daniel Sturridge are carrying knocks.
If banned, Skrtel would join Gerrard in missing Liverpool’s FA Cup replay at Blackburn Rovers on April 8th and their home game against Newcastle the following weekend.
It’s highly unlikely that any potential appeal would be successful given how the FA stood-by their charge against Diego Costa for a similar incident against Liverpool in their Capital One Cup clash back in January, so it looks like Rodgers is going to have to prepare for life without a key defender for the next three matches.
