Jonjo Shelvey has today been handed down a four-game ban following his clash with Emre Can in Swansea’s 4-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on Monday night.
The club decided not to appeal yesterday’s charge, saying that an appeal would not prove “positive for the club or player".
The ban will last an extra game than the usual three-match ban, due to the fact that the midfielder has seen red already this season - at Everton earlier in the year.
Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling was also involved in an incident during Monday’s Premier League tie. However, the officials did see the incident and could not pursue further action.
Swansea boss Garry Monk believed the ref should have also seen Shelvey’s incident, saying "The referee was perfectly placed and no-one had a better view than him of the incident."
Shelvey went unpunished at the time of the clash.
He did, however, tweet after the match saying the apparent elbow was entirely unintentional.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Just wanna say didn't intentionally elbow emre can was just trying to get my arm across to get round him and it's come off as I'm trying to</p>— Jonjo Shelvey (@shelveyJ) <a href="https://twitter.com/shelveyJ/status/549701739486924803">December 29, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Hurt another play and I can assure you that , that isn't the case. And I had apologised to emre can for catching him.</p>— Jonjo Shelvey (@shelveyJ) <a href="https://twitter.com/shelveyJ/status/549701884307845120">December 29, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Swansea will now be missing Shelvey for the New Year's Day fixture at Queens Park Rangers, Saturday's FA Cup game at Tranmere, plus two home Premier League games against West Ham United and Chelsea.
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