David Moyes has vowed to punish Arthur Masuaku after the midfielder spat at Nick Powell during West Ham’s 2-0 defeat to Wigan on Saturday.
Masuaku received a red card in the 49th minute after reacting to a challenge by Powell but referee Chris Kavanagh didn’t see the midfielder spit at the Wigan attacker.
The 24-year-old could face a six-game suspension, as that’s the mandatory charge for spitting, leaving him unable to play for the Hammers again until March.
Despite the length of the potential suspension, Moyes was keen for West Ham to enforce their own punishment on Masuaku as he deemed the player’s actions “despicable.”
“Ultimately, Arthur, what he’s done, was despicable,” said Moyes, as quoted by Sky Sports.
“He will deserve everything he gets and he will get something off us as well, it’s unacceptable, totally unacceptable.
“I just asked him, did he spit and he said, ‘Yes’.
“You can’t do that anywhere, we’ll deal with it appropriately.”
Masuaku who is also capable of playing as a left-back, has made 25 appearances for the Hammers this season.
OPINION
Moyes was already dealing with a major selection headache due to his side’s injury crisis, and for Masuaku to act in the manner he did, he has really let his manager down. The 24-year-old not only added to West Ham’s future problems, but heaped more misery on his side on an already disappointing Saturday for the club. While it’s true the Hammers want to focus on Premier League Survival to go out to League One opposition in the early stages of the FA Cup is still unacceptable. It’s actually worrying when you consider this result hardly came as surprise to anyone. High-flying Wigan turned up and worked hard to get a result, while West Ham were all over the place with Moyes fielding a makeshift team of anyone deemed fit enough to play by the club.