Rio Ferdinand to risk four-match ban by appealing against FA charge

Rio Ferdinand has decided to take a calculated gamble and risk a four-match ban by appealing against the Football Association's violent conduct charge so he can play in tonight's Carling Cup semi-final, second leg against Manchester City. Ferdinand will inform the FA before 6pm this evening that he pleads not guilty to the charge of deliberately striking Craig Fagan in Manchester United's 4-0 defeat of Hull City on Saturday. By denying the offence, Ferdinand is then free to play against City before a hearing in London tomorrow at which he will argue that it was an accidental collision as the two players tussled for positions inside the penalty area. Ferdinand is, however, going against the advice of Graham Bean, the FA's former compliance officer who now advises United on disciplinary matters and spoke to the England international, as well as Sir Alex Ferguson, in a meeting at the club's training ground this morning. • Giggs urges team-mates to ignore derby distractions • Three more arrested over derby trouble • United winger Tosic joins Cologne on loan • Manchester United v Manchester City – live from 7.30pm! Bean's advice was that United should accept the charge because the FA might otherwise consider their appeal to be "frivolous" and the governing body could react by punishing Ferdinand with an extra game on top of the mandatory three-match suspension. Yet Ferguson agreed with Ferdinand that they should prioritise tonight's match even though it meant the possibility of losing the player for the next month in terms of domestic action. In the worst-case scenario for Ferdinand he could now be banned from Sunday's game at Arsenal as well as the following home match against Portsmouth, a trip to Aston Villa and then another away game against Everton. He would not be eligible again until West Ham United visit Old Trafford on 27 February. The Sunderland defender Michael Turner and Middlesbrough's forward Jérémie Aliadière have both previously been given extended suspensions by the FA on the basis of "frivolous" appeals against charges of violent conduct. United's representatives will point out to the FA the failure to charge Liverpool's Javier Mascherano for a similar incident involving the Leeds striker Jermaine Beckford during a Carling Cup tie at Elland Road last September. Nemanja Vidic, Ferdinand's central defensive partner, was not charged either after an almost identical incident involving the Wigan striker Hugo Rodallega. However, the referee Steve Bennett has already told the FA's disciplinary department that he would have sent off Ferdinand, and awarded Hull a penalty, had he not been following play elsewhere on the pitch.