Striker banned for Arsenal clash after biting incident

Preston North End striker Milutin Osmajic has been banned for their League Cup clash with Arsenal, after his club failed to reduce his suspension to four games.

Sky Sports News confirm that Preston North End’s Milutin Osmajic has been handed an eight-match ban for biting Blackburn Rovers’ Owen Beck.

Osmajic had accepted an FA charge of violent conduct, but Preston were hoping that he’d only get a four-match ban. If that had happened, he could have returned just in time to face Arsenal.

That always seemed like a long shot though, with Luis Suarez previously having been banned for 10 games after his biting offence against Branislav Ivanovic.

Perhaps this offence was deserving of a slightly lesser suspension than Suarez received. Though the bite action was very similar, Osmajic was reacting to a red-card offence from Beck, whereas Suarez was reacting to being tackled.

At the very least, Osmajic could claim that Beck incited the incident by kicking out at one of Osmajic’s teammates. It would have been hard for Suarez to make a similar claim.

Suarez had also already been banned for biting during his time with Ajax, so he had a history for it.

But Preston’s hope of a four-game ban was always wildly optimistic, and eight games seems like the bare minimum for this kind of offence.

There is now no doubt that Osmajic will miss Preston’s upcoming League Cup clash with Arsenal, which will be the fifth game of his eight on the sidelines.

The 25-year-old had scored five goals in 10 games this season, including three in three in the League Cup. He’d also netted twice in Preston’s extended penalty shootout against Fulham to set up the Arsenal tie.