Ex Premier League referee Graham Poll has defended West Ham’s decision to appeal against Cheikhou Kouyate’s red card against Blackburn and believes the decision was a poor one by Jon Moss.
In his column for The Mail, Poll wrote that “Henley was through on goal but his first touch played the ball a long way in front of himself.” This means that Kouyate wasn’t denying a goalscoring opportunity as the ball had already made it’s way through to Darren Randolph.
The contact is also questionable, and it seems apparent that Kouyate had no intention of touching the Blackburn player either. It was an accidental, minimal collision that didn’t deny any kind of chance to score. Kouyate will be considering himself seriously unlucky if he misses any Premier League action because of the decision.
The red card was the one blemish on an otherwise fantastic FA Cup performance at Blackburn.
David Gold had his say on Twitter last night, stating that he believes there is a better than 50:50 chance that the red card will be rescinded, and if Graham Poll believes it is worth an appeal then there is a good chance we will be getting Kouyate back for the Sunderland game at the weekend.
Saturday sees Big Sam return to The Boleyn Ground, and his Sunderland side have just beaten Manchester United and are desperate for points to see them stave off relegation this season. Sam Allardyce will definitely have a point to prove here, and it should be a tricky game for us.
