Villa to appeal Herd red card

Aston Villa will appeal the controversial red card shown to Chris Herd in their 2-1 defeat to West Brom on Saturday.

Australian-born right-back Herd was sent off by referee Phil Dowd after 36 minutes for deliberately treading on Baggies defender Jonas Olsson.

But furious Villa manager Alex McLeish supported his player’s assertion that this was untrue after the match, and confirmed on Monday that the club would be appealing the three-match ban.

“Oh yes, absolutely, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it,” he told Sky Sports.

“Looking at the pictures again, Chris has done nothing wrong.”

“It’s a poor decision on the day by the official. These things are not deliberate, he’s made an honest mistake, it’s just a shame I think that he’s guessed the decision rather than saw anything.”

Herd will miss the trips to Sunderland and Tottenham either side of Norwich’s visit to Villa Park if the suspension is upheld, but McLeish is quietly confident.

“I spoke to Phil,” said McLeish. “He will look at it again. We will see what the outcome is of the re-runs.”

“The slow-motion one indicated that Chris was extricating his foot from Olsson’s grasp. I just could not see a stamp in that situation.”

“Phil never saw it. He never saw Olsson’s punch on Chris’s shoulder. It’s difficult for a referee to see everything but the linesman saw the alleged stamp.”

Meanwhile, Villa midfielder Barry Bannan was arrested on suspicion of drink driving after being involved in a crash on the M1 early on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Scottish international midfielder smashed into the central reservation of the M1 at about 5.30am.

He was arrested by police officers, along with a 20-year-old friend, in the nearby village of Bulwell, in Nottinghamshire.