West Ham have been dealt a double blow as manager Julen Lopetegui enters a vital period in his fledgling West Ham career.
The 4-1 defeat to arch rivals Tottenham last weekend put even more pressure on the Spaniard, who is already facing questions over his style of play and ability to lead this West Ham team forward after winning just three of his first 10 games in charge.
And today his chances of turning things around took a further blow, with the FA charging Mohammed Kudus with violent conduct and acting in an improper manner following his red card last weekend, as reported by BBC Sport.
The Ghana international saw an initial yellow card overturned to a straight red by VAR after he kicked Micky van de Ven and then proceeded to push the defender in the face before doing the same to Pape Matar Sar seconds later.
Kudus was already set to miss three matches – against Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Everton – as a result of his dismissal but if found guilty of his further charges, could face further punishment with the potential threat of more games being added to his suspension.
On top of that, West Ham and Tottenham have also been charged by the FA for failing to ensure their players didn’t behave in an improper and/or provocative and/or violent way in the events that led to Kudus’ dismissal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The two clubs and Kudus have until Thursday this week to respond to the charges.
Blow for Lopetegui
It will have been frustrating enough for Lopetegui that he was having to plan for West Ham’s next three games without Kudus, who was West Ham’s best player against Tottenham before his red card, and opened the scoring in the first half.
But the threat of not being able to call upon the forward for more games, with Newcastle, Arsenal and Leicester the club’s next fixtures after Kudus’ suspension, will add more pressure on the Spaniard’s need to turn things around.
Kudus has had a relatively difficult start to the season, only scoring his first goal of the campaign in the 4-1 victory over Ipswich just before the international break.
He had a difficult break with Ghana, with his country looking increasingly unlikely to qualify for AFCON for the first time since 2004, with Kudus being one of the players blamed by fans for the failure.
But with two goals in as many matches for the Hammers either side of that disappointment, it appeared he was getting back to his best in claret and blue, which makes his suspension all the more damaging to West Ham and Lopetegui’s immediate fortunes.
Lopetegui will no doubt call upon Crysencio Summerville to deputise during Kudus’ absence, and it could be the perfect opportunity for the Dutchman to prove he can be an important and effective member of the former Real Madrid’s bosses’ attack.
But deep down, the manager will be hoping it is only three games that he will have to make do without Kudus and not any more than that.
