Season over for guilty Hleb
23 Apr 2008 - 11:43:29
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- Season over for guilty Hleb
Arsenal midfielder Alex Hleb's season is over after he admitted a Football Association charge of violent conduct.
The Belarus international will serve a three-match ban which rules him out of the remainder of the campaign following a clash with Graeme Murty during Saturday's 2-0 victory against Reading.
Hleb appeared to catch Murty in the face with his hand although the incident was not spotted at the time by referee Peter Walton.
But, having watched a video of the incident, Walton informed the FA that, had he seen it at the time, he would have shown Hleb a red card and a charge of violent conduct was subsequently issued.
Meanwhile, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is confident Hleb hasn't played his last match for the club.
The 26-year-old midfielder has been linked with a summer switch to Internazionale, Real Madrid and Barcelona, but Wenger is confident he will remain at the Emirates Stadium.
Speaking over the weekend, he claimed: "I believe Alex will stay but you cannot stop the rumours when players are in this type of situation.
"But I want Hleb to stay like everybody else.
"You can go to Real Madrid and Barcelona, but you have no more guarantees to win trophies.
"And from this season we should get the belief we can win trophies and come back to win the title."