Martin Skrtel banned for Liverpool-Arsenal match

The FA charged Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel yesterday in connection to a stomp he performed on David de Gea near the end of their match against Manchester United last weekend, and today the disciplinary panel announced that Skrtel's appeal has been rejected. He will face a three-game ban, and that's helpful to Arsenal in a couple of ways.

First, the obvious: the next game for Arsenal is against Liverpool, and so Skrtel will not be playing in that game. He's a starting defender for them, and I always like it when our opponents can't have their top XI on the field. But it's also a positive because the last time Arsenal faced Liverpool in the league, Skrtel scored twice, and frankly I'd like to not have to look at him.

But wait, there's more! Skrtel will also be banned for Liverpool's FA Cup quarterfinal replay against Blackburn. Does that mean Blackburn will win? Of course not. But it does hand them a little bit of a boost, and honestly I don't want to have to play Liverpool in a possible FA Cup final (if we can get past Reading), so yeah, go Blackburn!