Swansea’s leading goal scorer to miss FA Cup clash vs. Tottenham

There’s an old hoary chestnut says that there are no easy matches in football, but Tottenham Hotspur may have gotten a break as they try to return to the semifinals of the FA Cup for the second consecutive year. Swansea City’s leading scorer Jordan Ayew is set to miss the quarterfinal clash against Spurs next weekend at the Liberty Stadium after he was red carded in the 11th minute of the Swans’ 0-0 draw against Huddersfield.

If the red card is upheld, that means that Ayew will miss next Sunday’s FA Cup match as well as Swansea’s upcoming trips to Manchester United and West Brom.

However, we might have to wait a bit to be sure. Swansea manager Carlos Carvalhal said in a press conference after the match that he’s considering appealing the card and the suspension.

“I saw a situation that was to me not a red card. Now I’ve seen the video, it’s more easy to talk. Two players challenged very hard for the ball, exactly in the same position with the feet, two players, exactly the same.

”What my player did and the Huddersfield player did was exactly the same. You will see on the image. Both exactly the same position If it’s a red card, a red card to both players or not a red card to any player. That’s my view from the video.

”I must respect the decision. We will analyse with some experts to help us if we have reasons or not to appeal, but let’s see, I don’t know.”

Here’s the incident in question -- Ayew and Jonathan Hogg were both going in for a challenge; Hogg got the worse of the exchange, clearly, but you could argue that both were reckless tackles. I’m not sure there’s enough here to overturn what was a pretty clear red card on Ayew, though.

A Swansea without Jordan Ayew would be very good news for Tottenham. Swansea have been in good form lately and Ayew is the Swans’ leading scorer with 10 goals in all competitions this season. Taking him out of the equation makes Swansea’s job tougher, and could give Spurs an extra edge in the match.