Marouane Fellaini and Robert Huth will both serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect after being charged with violent conduct which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video. However, the Dutchman believes the FA’s decision to also hand a three-match suspension to Huth is an admission United should have been awarded a penalty for the incident.
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The Football Association (FA) hit Fellaini with a three-match ban for aiming an elbow at his opponent during last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in the Premier League, having becoming angered by Huth grabbing his hair.
Gareth Barry and Seamus Coleman have only an outside chance of being fit for Everton’s trip to Premier League champions Leicester.
Fellaini, however, will be back in consideration for the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace on May 21.
United manager Louis van Gaal launched a robust defence of Fellaini after the game, grabbing a TV reporter’s hair to demonstrate Huth’s alleged provocation and likening it to “sex masochism”.
Van Gaal said: “It is always hard to fight against a team who fights to maintain they’re place in the Premier League”.
“We have to assess the tiredness of the players because there’s an overload of matches, so maybe I have to rotate”, Van Gaal said. You have to first pick Huth, because he was the guy who grabbed the hair of Fellaini. “But now we have to win three games in a row”.
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Barry (groin) and Coleman (hamstring) are more likely to return against Sunderland next week while captain Phil Jagielka (hamstring) could make the final game of the season at home to Norwich.
