West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce is hopeful that the Football Association will reconsider their decision to uphold a three-match ban on striker Andy Carroll.

The 25-year-old was sent off by referee Howard Webb for appearing to strike his arm across the top of Chico Flores's head in last Saturday's 2-0 win over Swansea City.

The Hammers were knocked back in their appeal, which has prompted them to appear before an FA arbitral tribunal today.

"My reaction to Andy's red card was one of injustice," BBC Sport quotes Allardyce as saying. "Unfortunately the panel has not seen it as they should have.

"In this case we based our procedure on was it an obvious mistake and I'm 100% certain it was an obvious mistake. I hope that common sense prevails. If there's a decision today hopefully it's a positive one."

Carroll has only recently returned to the first team having spent the majority of the season out injured with an Achilles injury.