Conor Wickham charged by FA after elbowing Jan Vertonghen in the face

Midway through the second half of Tottenham's 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday, Jan Vertonghen was absolutely decked by a Conor Wickham elbow during a scrum in the box. It was a really hard hit, Jan went down like a sack of potatoes, and was eventually subbed off.

The match officials missed the incident, but it was caught on video, which looked really bad and deliberate. Now, the FA has weighed in and has formally charged Wickham with "an act of violent conduct" after reviewing the match footage.

Connor Wickham charged for an alleged act of violent conduct https://t.co/ByTFtYsLoo

— The FA (@FA) January 25, 2016

The elbow to the face is bad enough, but apparently Jan injured his knee in the fall, which was the primary reason he was subbed off. The Evening Standard suggests that Jan is worried he might have medial ligament damage, but that the club is waiting for the swelling to go down before they make a firm diagnosis. If he does have a MCL sprain, it's possible that Spurs could be without Jan for the next 6-10 weeks.

Now that he's formally charged, the Wickham incident heads to an FA panel of officials who will review the matter and make a decision on what, if any, punishment he should receive. The standard sentence for violent conduct is a three match ban. Wickham has until tomorrow to reply to the allegations.