Manuel Lanzini has become the second Premier League player to be retrospectively banned for diving after being found guilty successfully deceiving the referee to win a penalty in West Ham’s 3-0 away win over Stoke on Saturday afternoon.
Hammers manager David Moyes attempted to excuse Lanzini by claiming the Argentinian simply collapsed with fatigue 17 minutes into the match, but the FA have settled on a slightly different, slightly less pathetic explanation: he cheated.
Lanzini denied of the charge but his appeal was rejected by the FA independent panel, thus meaning that he’ll miss tonight’s League Cup game against Arsenal, as well as Saturday’s league match against Newcastle.
As you may recall, Everton’s Oumar Niasse became the first player to be retrospectively banned for diving when he went a-sprawlin’ to con a penalty against Crystal Palace last month.
Jolly good show, and a fine start to the new initiative. Pies can hardly wait to see the first player from one of the top six/seven clubs be treated likewise.