Villa in pain as Bacuna is hit for six
ASTON VILLA are considering an appeal after Leandro Bacuna was punished with a six-game ban for his altercation with an assistant referee.
The FA hit the winger hard for shoving Mark Russell with his chest late on in last Saturday’s win over Derby. Bacuna, 25, admitted a charge of violent conduct but the FA yesterday deemed that serving an automatic three-match suspension would be “clearly insufficient”.
He has already sat out one match and will miss today’s trip to rock-bottom Rotherham.
Villa manager Steve Bruce said: “It’s very disappointing. I said at the time that he overstepped the mark, but six games is a bit harsh. We will decide what to do next.”
As things stand Bacuna will also miss the matches against Huddersfield, Wigan, Sheffield Wednesday and Norwich.
Wigan boss Warren Joyce is not expected to be on the touchline for the crunch Lancashire derby with fellow strugglers Blackburn after minor surgery.
Victory over Blackburn, one place above them in the table, could lift them out of the relegation zone but Joyce has handed over team affairs to assistant coach Graham Barrow on a temporary basis.
“I can’t go into too much detail but it’s as serious as any health issue can be,” said Barrow.
At the other end of the table, leaders Newcastle face Huddersfield in the Championship’s game of the day. David Wagner’s side, who served warning of their promotion challenge this season when winning at St James’ Park in August, will move to within five points of Newcastle with a game in hand if they repeat that success.
German manager Wagner, who will serve the second game of his touchline ban, said: “Newcastle have a lot of quality, but we are focused on ourselves.”
Brighton have been boosted ahead of the trip to Nottingham Forest by tying winger Anthony Knockaert down to a new four-year contract.
Second-placed Brighton lost 2-1 at home to Newcastle in midweek and manager Chris Hughton hopes his side can put that setback behind them.
“Certainly for this group, it’s about how we react to dropping from first place to second,” said Hughton.
“It shows how far the lads have come that they have come away bitterly disappointed from a game where we have lost top spot.”
Managerless Forest yesterday appointed Frank McParland, 57, as their new director of football to pave the way for Mark Warburton’s arrival in the hot-seat in the summer.
Norwich can ill-afford to lose at Sheffield Wednesday if they want to keep their play-off hopes alive. The Owls hold a six-point advantage and occupy the final play-off place.
Fulham and Preston, also in the play-off hunt, go head-to-head at Craven Cottage.