The Football Association have confirmed they have charged Leicester City midfielder Danny Drinkwater with violent conduct following an altercation with Watford’s Valon Behrami that went unnoticed by the match day officials.
Drinkwater, 26, was appeared to elbow Behrami in the 67th minute of Leicester’s 2-1 defeat away to Watford on Saturday, which was not included in referee Neil Swarbrick’s post-match report.
The England international has been given until 6pm on Wednesday to reply to the charge, but it remains unlikely that the Leicester midfielder will be successful in any appeal, in which case a three-match ban will follow.
It comes at an awful time for Claudio Ranieri’s side, who have made a disastrous start to their title defence in the league. Three wins from their opening 12 matches leaves Leicester just two points above the bottom three, with Drinkwater set to miss crucial upcoming matches against Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Manchester City.
With Nampalys Mendy still struggling to recover from a knee injury picked up in the second game of the season it leaves Ranieri with the prospect of starting an uninspiring central midfield pairing of Andy King and Daniel Amartey.
Since the start of last season Drinkwater has won possession in the midfield third more times than any other player ().
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