FA to hit Aguero with four-match ban

MANCHESTER CITY’S title aspirations were dealt a hammer blow when star striker Sergio Aguero was sent off in the heavyweight clash against Chelsea to rule him out of Premier League action until New Year’s Eve. Aguero, 28, will receive a four-match ban for his wild two-footed lunge at Chelsea’s David Luiz at the end of injury-time in City’s 3-1 defeat at the Etihad Stadium. City’s top scorer is guaranteed the sanction after already serving a three-game suspension for elbowing Winston Reid of West Ham in August. Aguero will now miss games against Leicester City, Watford, Arsenal and Hull City before being able to return against Liverpool on December 31.

To add to the anguish of City manager Pep Guardiola, he is also set to be without midfielder Fernandinho for the first three of those games after the Brazilian was also sent off for grabbing Cesc Fabregas by the throat and shoving him over the advertising hoardings.

Guardiola said: ‘It was a pity the game finished like this. I apologise. Both players went in strong. He (Luiz) went down and he (Aguero) touched him. It wasn’t intentional

‘We lost Aguero for three games before.

‘We accept that. We are going to deal with that. Fernandinho went there to defend his teammate.’

Nigerian Kelechi Iheanacho, 20, is the likeliest replacement for Aguero, who has scored 16 goals this season.

City could also face a separate charge if the FA feel they failed to control their players in the injury-time melee.

Luiz said afterwards: ‘We showed our power and it also shows our character that we didn’t lose our heads.’