Arsenal will be without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for three games after their appeal against his ban for his red card tackle against Crystal Palace was unsuccessful.

The Gunners asked the FA to reconsider the punishment handed to their captain and star striker following his dismissal for a late foul on Palace midfielder Max Meyer.

Arsenal's 16-goal top scorer was initially shown a yellow card by referee Paul Tierney which was only upgraded to a red after VAR Craig Pawson spent considerable time reviewing slow-motion replays of the incident.

The Gunners, though, felt there could be enough mitigation for a three-game suspension to be deemed an excessive punishment.

They believed there was not excessive force in the Gabon striker's challenge and slowed-down replays made it look worse than it was.

They also pointed to a number of similar tackles, including two recently on their own players Matteo Guendouzi and Nicolas Pepe, that were also subject to VAR reviews but did not result in red cards.

However, the FA confirmed there would be no change to Aubameyang's punishment and he will now miss Saturday's visit of Sheffield United, next Tuesday's trip to Chelsea and the fourth-round FA Cup clash at Bournemouth.

Manager Mikel Arteta said:

It has been confirmed he will be suspended for three games so we are not going to have the player for the next three fixtures.

It is a big shame, a big loss for us because we know Auba's intention when he plays but unfortunately he mistimed the tackle, they made the decision and now we have to accept it.

He was very sad after the game, disappointed that he left the team with 10 men. It was an action that was completely accidental in my opinion.

He has been superb under me, training well, working hard, scoring goals and probably the most important player of the team so to lose him is really bad news for us.

Keep reading: https://www.queensmail.com/2020/01/arsenals-appeal-against-aubameyangs-red.html

Source: [url]QUEENSMAIL.COM[/url]

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