Having reviewed video evidence, the FA has banned Birmingham City midfielder Lee Bowyer for three matches. This is apparently for the incident where Bowyer maliciously stamped on Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna during the Birmingham and Arsenal premier league match on 1 January 2011. The final score was 0—3.
However the other malicious incident, where Bowyer raked his studs down into Sagna’s right ankle and Achilles heel, appears to have been forgotten or dismissed. Here are freeze frames of both incidents.
Also note the position of referee Peter Walton at both incidents; Walton said he did not see anything during either clash.
First Incident
Initially, referee Peter Walton is near and has an unobstructed view ... however his gaze may have followed the ball after it had left the area at the halfway line where Sagna was lying on the pitch
Second Incident
Referee Peter Walton is near and has an unobstructed view of Bowyer's contact with Sagna 
Moments following the second incident (in the 69th minute), Birmingham manager Alex McLeish substituted Bowyer, seemingly because he feared Bowyer’s unsporting actions would sooner or later get him sent off.
What is interesting is both managers’ refusal to condemn Bowyer, as they made their excuses in “not having seen the incident” or have “not seen any replays”.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger preferred not to highlight Bowyer's actions after the game. He said: 'I do not want to talk too much about that because I haven't seen any replays. During the game, it was very difficult the challenge on Fabregas (by Roger Johnson) and Sagna (by Bowyer). I will watch that again and give you my opinion later.'
McLeish said that he 'did not see it' when asked about Bowyer's alleged stamp in his post-match press conference.
Funny! It appears nobody at that match wanted to commit to saying they saw something … least of all the referee!
Stamp Out Stamping (related posts)
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