Here are previous Premier League incidents of spitting and resulting bans after Burnley vs Leeds allegations
Hannibal Mejbri sparked outrage over an alleged spitting incident during Burnley’s win over Leeds United on Saturday.
Leeds’ poor performance against Burnley was hardly the biggest story to come out of the game at Turf Moor.
Hannibal has been accused of spitting at Leeds fans after coming on 83 minutes into the game.
It has been widely reported that both the Football Association and the Lancashire Police are looking into the issue, with this not being the first time that Haniball and Leeds have been in dispute.
As a result, MOT Leeds News has taken a look at three previous offences to gauge how long Hannibal could be out of action for Burnley.
Goran Popov incident vs Tottenham
Hannibal’s alleged misconduct against Leeds is not the only incident of its kind to have made headlines in the 21st century.
Former West Brom manager Steve Clarke was fuming back in 2013, when Goran Popov was sent off for spitting at Kyle Walker in their 1-0 defeat to Tottenham.
Mark Clattenburg spotted the incident on the pitch and brandished a straight red card for Popov, who was on loan at West Brom from Dynamo Kyiv at the time.
The North Macedonian full-back received an automatic three-match ban for the incident.
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Jonny Evans vs Newcastle United
The altercation between Jonny Evans and Papiss Cisse when Newcastle United faced Manchester United at home is still remembered by fans, even though it happened more than 10 years ago.
Video footage from the confrontation seemed to show Evans spitting in the direction of Cisse, who proceeded to spit back at him.
Evans was given a six-match ban, while Cisse accepted a seven-match suspension due to a previous violent misconduct offence.
George Boyd incident vs Manchester City
George Boyd came under fire for spitting at Joe Hart during Hull City’s defeat to Manchester City in 2014.
While the incident was not seen by match officials, replays of the game on television showed the altercation with the goalkeeper.
Boyd was handed a three-match suspension after the FA rejected his appeal against the previous decision.
All things considered, Hannibal should receive anywhere between a three and six-game ban if he is charged by the FA.
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