Burnley's Kyle Lafferty will not play again until February 9 at the earliest, after being handed a FOUR-match ban for his second red card in five months.
Clarets manager Owen Coyle has decided against challenging the Northern Ireland international's dismissal from the FA Cup third round clash with Arsenal on Sunday for a challenge on Gilberto Silva that referee Alan Wiley deemed to be a "reckless and high tackle endangering the safety of an opponent".
The decision was taken in the light of midfielder Joey Gudjonsson being handed an extra match ban when an appeal for his sending off against Preston was deemed frivolous'.
Lafferty will therefore miss the next four games, with his dismissal in the pre-season friendly against Apollon Limassol on the tour of Austria also taken into consideration.
The 20-year-old served a three-match ban in August for that summer sending off, but his current ban is extended to four because it is not his first offence of this campaign.
However, team-mate Jon Harley is confident the Northern Ireland international will be taught a valuable lesson from his latest incident.
"He's obviously disappointed but he'll come back from that," said the full back.
"I suppose he's just got to learn that refs can dish red cards out for those sort of tackles.
"Whether it was (a sending off) or not I don't know, but he'll learn from it; he's obviously still a young lad."
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