Wolves will be without one of their star performers in early January following a decision by the Football Association.
Striker Matheus Cunha has been suspended for two matches and fined £80,000 after admitting charges of misconduct and acting “inappropriately”. This relates to an incident that occurred after Wolves’ 2-1 home defeat to Ipswich Town in the Premier League on 14 December, which saw manager Gary O’Neil lose his job.
Cunha had scored an equaliser for Wolves before Jack Taylor’s 94th-minute winner sparked some ugly scenes after the final whistle, with Rayan Ait-Nouri shown a late red card for the home side.
The Brazilian has been in excellent form of late and scored in the wins over Leicester City and Manchester United that kick-started Vitor Pereira’s time in charge.
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Cunha was fined and given a two-match suspension after admitting an FA misconduct charge and acting “inappropriately” in an incident after the 2-1 defeat to Ipswich at Molineux.
The player was caught up in an altercation on the pitch with a member of Ipswich staff after the final whistle during a wider fracas involving both teams. Cunha was seen removing the individual’s glasses after grabbing his coat, as other coaches and Wolves players intervened to separate them.
The FA released full written reasons for the ban on 7 January, stating that Cunha had discovered the Ipswich staff member and “knocked his glasses off his face, causing them to break”. Cunha, who issued an apology for the incident, said he rushed towards his teammate Rayan Ait-Nouri after seeing him surrounded by security. In his statement, he said: “I never intended to make contact with [the staff member] and indeed I never intended to rub shoulders with him. I just tried to get him away from Rayan. »He added that he felt “quite threatened” after being grabbed by a member of staff and surrounded by security, so “in the warmth of the moment when I unfortunately reached out and grabbed his glasses, I know it was to do it. ” and I take full service for that. ” for my actions. “
Initially, its commission issued a three-game ban and a £120,000 after rejecting both Cunha’s precise version of events, and Wolves’ argument that Ipswich security staff “were overly aggressive and contributed to the atmosphere of hostility”. However, the commission decided to reduce the ban to two matches and lower the fine because of Cunha’s previously clean record, his “sincere” apology, and the fact he offered to pay to replace the staff member’s glasses.
The suspension applies to all domestic competitions in which Wolves are involved. That means Cunha had to miss the Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest on January 6, and he must also sit out the FA Cup third-round tie at Bristol City on January 11.
Then it will be available for the League match in Newcastle United on January 15.
Joe Wright is editor-in-chief of Sporting News, where he manages world football and the British team. In the past he was deputy editor and editor of Goal. com before spending six years at the news publishing arm Stats Perform, covering the world’s major sports, plus football, tennis, boxing, NBA, rugby and track and field. Joe has extensive experience covering some of football’s biggest events, adding two UEFA Champions League finals, Euro 2016 and the 2017 Confederations. World Cup and the 2018 World Cup, adding the last one in Moscow.