Villa have appealed striker’s red card
According to a report in the Birmingham Mail, Aston Villa have appealed the red card that Jonathan Kodjia picked up in the 3-1 defeat to Fulham on Monday afternoon.
The Ivorian was involved in an incident just 22 minutes into the match where he appeared to kick out at Fulham’s Ryan Fredericks. The referee, David Cootes, consulted with the linesman and then produced the red card.
However, Fredericks wasn’t innocent in all of this, and Bruce said after the game that if Kodjia had to go, then the Fulham player should have followed.
Bruce said:
“It was an act of petulance from Jon, that’s what it was. He was provoked and he reacted. If they are going to send Jon off, then they have to send their player off. In my opinion it was handbag stuff and the yellow card was warranted for both of them but to get the red was cruel on us.”
Villa will find out if their appeal has been successful on Thursday. If it isn’t then the striker will miss the final 3 matches of the season and will miss out on the opportunity to become the first Villa player to score 20 league goals since Peter Withe achieved the feat in the 1980-81 season.