West Ham star ruled out for five weeks – will miss Newcastle United & Arsenal games

West Ham United will be without one of their key players when they visit Newcastle United in just over a week’s time…

Mohammed Kudus was shown a red card during the Hammers’ 4-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur last month after Micky van de Ven claimed the winger punched him in the face.

Kudus was initially shown a yellow card by referee Andy Madley but that was later upgraded to a red for violent conduct following a VAR check, earning the player an automatic three-match ban.

However, he was also hit with another violent conduct charge by the FA, which has handed down an additional sanction.

The 24-year-old has already missed games against Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Everton, and he’ll also miss the Hammers’ next two fixtures against Newcastle and Arsenal.

Kudus, who scored twice against Newcastle last season, will next be eligible for West Ham’s trip to Leicester Cityon December 2. By that point, he won’t have played club football for five weeks.

According to the written reasons published from the independent regulatory commission, Kudus informed them he was “deeply embarrassed” by the incident and accepted the charge.

It read: “MK [Mohamed Kudus] began his letter by apologising, stating that he was deeply embarrassed by his behaviour in the 20 seconds following his foul on Micky van de Ven.

“He accepted that he had lost his cool and said that his behaviour was out of character.

“He stated that he could not recall the events clearly, but having viewed the footage, he felt that MvdV [Micky van de Ven] had exaggerated the incident as there was minimal contact from him…He accepted that he should not have pushed PS [Pape Sarr] in the face and that his action merited a red card. However, he did not injure anyone, or use force.

“MK [Mohamed Kudus] stated that his preparation for the match had been mentally and physically challenging because he had travelled for a midweek international fixture and had received various negative comments on social media. He referred to his work within the community and in his home country of Ghana, stressing how he tried to be a role model.”