The FA has denied any responsibility for the withdrawal of Patrick van Aanholt from the Sunderland team on Sunday over the results of a heart screening.
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David Moyes revealed this morning that van Aanholt would be in the party making the journey to West London for the third round match.
He said: “We are just surprised that the FA panel (which has some access to players’ medical records) didn’t contact me or contact my doctor until 3.55pm on Sunday afternoon”.
Television pictures showed the Dutch defender reacting with shock when teammate Jason Denayer told him he would be starting in his place.
He has been given the all-clear and could feature at Loftus Road.
The Van Aanholt issue is the latest hard situation Moyes has been forced to handle since taking over at the Stadium of Light, and the Sunderland boss said: “I think all managers would say, what everybody turns up and sees on the pitch in terms of watching the football, they do not understand what is happening behind the scenes”. I picked up a virus and that would have crept in my body, possibly even to my heart.
Patrick van Aanholt said he had been ill last week but was now fine. I felt nothing in my heart.
There was plenty of speculation about the reason for the change, but Sunderland boss David Moyes revealed on Tuesday that Van Aanholt had been pulled out of the team after the club received the results of a standard cardiology scan.
We’re playing three games in seven days here, so Jermain would be the one who probably, out of them all, I think everybody would understand we need to look after.
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However, the FA, which carries out around 1,400 screens across England and Wales each year, has insisted it had no formal involvement in the matter.
