Bilic has ‘strong case’ to overturn Kouyate’s red

SLAVeN BILIC has vowed to appeal Cheikhou Kouyate’s red card and believes West ham will have a ‘strong case’ for it to be overturned.

Kouyate was sent off in the 75th minute of West ham’s 5-1 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers after he collided with Adam henley when they both chased a long ball.

Referee Jon Moss had no hesitation about showing a red card but the decision left manager Bilic furious, as the ball which henley was pursuing was not in his control and it went all the way through to West ham goalkeeper Darren Randolph.

‘ I am not happy with that,’ said Bilic. ‘I know the ball went to Randy, to our keeper, so it is definitely not a goalscoring opportunity. A foul? OK. But not a red card, so we are going to appeal and I think we have a really strong case.’

It was the only blot on an otherwise perfect afternoon for West ham, who emerged from a sluggish start in which they trailed to a goal from Ben Marshall to thrash their Championship opponents.

Bilic says the FA Cup is more important than finishing in the top four, and with Dimitri Payet in such fine form there is no reason why they should not be dreaming of winning it. ‘We want to progress as far as possible,’ said Bilic. ‘I don’t think that any manager is approaching the FA Cup without trying to win the game.

‘The FA Cup is massive. Man City have put out a weakened line up but that is because of the Champions League.

‘That is a different situation, it is not disrespecting the Cup. We are crazy to go through. After the first 20 minutes we played some fantastic football.’

Blackburn manager Paul Lambert felt Chris Taylor’s 54th-minute dismissal, after two bookings, was pivotal. ‘Up until the sending off, we were doing very well,’ he said. ‘We had made a fist of it. The first goal was poor from our point of view.’

But, like Bilic, he knew Payet was the real reason his team were beaten. ‘West ham have got a top talent,’ he said.