West Ham forward Manuel Lanzini has been punished with a two-match ban for diving during Saturday’s Premier League win at Stoke City.
The 24-year old Argentine playmaker went down under the challenge of Stoke City’s Dutch left-back Erik Pieters prompting the referee to award a penalty.
Club captain Mark Noble converted the penalty to put West Ham 1-0 up and that served as a catalyst for a 3-0 win at the Britannia Stadium.
He was thereafter charged by the English Football Association (FA) but his denial of the charge was turned down leading to a two-game ban.
He missed Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup game at Arsenal and will also miss Premier League visit of Newcastle United to the Olympic Stadium.
The incident was transferred to an independent three-person FA panel who unanimously agreed that Lanzini had deceived the referee.
The panel includes one former match official, one ex-manager and one ex-player.
Speaking on the situation, West Ham manager David Moyes was adamant in his submission that the panel were “going against” referee Graham Scott in their decision.
He said: “The referee was 10 yards from the ball with nothing blocking his vision,” said Moyes, speaking after the initial charge.
“It is clear to see the defender makes an attempt to go for the ball and doesn’t get it.” Moyes added.
Manuel Lanzini is now the second player to be given a two-game ban for diving after Everton forward Oumar Niasse was banned earlier in the season for committing the same offence against Crystal Palace.[tps_header][/tps_header]
