Tottenham's Moussa Sissoko will be banned for three matches for elbowing Bournemouth's Harry Arter, missing the north London derby with Arsenal. The France midfielder has accepted a violent conduct charge for the incident during Saturday's goalless draw. Sissoko, 27, apologised but was charged by the Football Association. Spurs will not appeal against the decision. His suspension will include Tuesday's EFL Cup tie at Liverpool, plus league games against Leicester and Arsenal.
The FA said the incident was missed by match officials. "I need to say the elbow was in the face of Arter and it is clear," Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino said on Monday. "We are in a period where we need all the squad, all the players to compete. It's difficult now because he is a player who was in our plans to play tomorrow, so we have to change a little bit." Speaking to Match of the Day after Saturday's game, Arter said he was happy to accept Sissoko's explanation that the contact was accidental. He said: "I never want to see a player get into trouble if they didn't mean to. Sissoko apologised. I'm happy to move on from it."