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Palace's Connor Wickham suspended three games for violent conduct

Crystal Palace's Connor Wickham is to serve a three-match suspension after the Football Association charged him with violent conduct following an incident with Tottenham's Jan Vertonghen.

The striker appeared to catch Vertonghen with an elbow in the 69th minute of Spurs' 3-1 Premier League victory at Selhurst Park last Saturday, but was only seen doing so on video and not by match officials.

Wickham admitted the charge but mitigated against the standard three-match suspension. However, that was rejected by an Independent Regulatory Commission and he has now been ruled out of Saturday's FA Cup fourth-round fixture with Stoke.

An FA statement read: "Following an Independent Regulatory Commission hearing today [Friday 29 January], Connor Wickham will serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect."

The 22-year-old will also miss two further fixtures in the Premier League, at home to Bournemouth and away at Swansea, and at a time when his first-team place has been under threat despite Palace's attacking options already being weakened.

They this week completed the signing of Emmanuel Adebayor on a free transfer until the end of the season, but manager Alan Pardew believes the veteran forward remains short of the match fitness required to start.

Yannick Bolasie and Bakary Sako are also out injured, while Patrick Bamford -- largely owing to the faith placed in Wickham this season -- ended his loan spell because of a lack of first-team football.

Dwight Gayle and Marouane Chamakh have recently returned to contention, and they are expected to compete with Fraizer Campbell for a place in Palace's starting XI against Stoke.

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