According to a report from Football Insider, the FA’s decision to extend Kudus’ three-match ban to five matches was “over the top”. 

The Ghanaian International was already serving an automatic three-match ban after receiving a red card against Spurs, which ruled him out of the 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest, the 2-1 victory over Manchester United and the 0-0 draw with Everton.

The former Ajax man lost his head during the Hammers’ disappointing 4-1 defeat to rivals Tottenham Hotspur. During a heated altercation at the Tottenham Hostsput Stadium, he appeared to kick Micky Van de Ven while he was on the floor, then pushing him in the face before doing the same to Pape Matar Sarr.

Kudus was found guilty of violent conduct by an independent Regulatory Commission and will now miss two further league matches against Newcastle United on Nov. 25 and Arsenal on Nov. 30. Kudus was also fined £60,000 by the FA for violent conduct.

Finance expert Stefan Borson couldn’t believe the decision. He told Football Insider: “I don’t really understand why it became such a significant incident.

“I was surprised when that announcement came out. It just did not look enough of a significant incident to deserve five games. If you were to go back and look at the five-game bans that have happened over history, there aren’t many of them. They have usually been for pretty serious things, so I don’t know.

“It seems to be quite an over-the-top reaction, but obviously it was well trailed. I am surprised by it.”

These next two matches after the International break are huge for Julen Lopetegui, anything less than two points from both matches could see his short stint in East London come to an end. A visit to an in-form Newcastle on Monday night is a nightmare waiting to happen and Arsenal have a point to prove after dropping points against Chelsea, it could be very hard for the Hammers to pick up any points, especially without a player as talented as Mohammed Kudus.