Thierry got himself booked in the win over Everton on Sunday, with a stupid display of petulance after the ref blew the whistle as the striker was bearing down on goal. The linesman had flagged because (he thought) the ball had gone out of play in the build-up, and Henry showed his displeasure by picking the ball up and slamming it into the ground.

It's been reported (including on the radio that day, and in the next day's newspaper reports) that because it was Henry's 5th booking of the season (see this season's disiplinary record), he will get a 1 match ban.

People have been trying to work out which match it would be. If the ban starts 2 weeks after the 5th booking, it looked like being the home match against Man Utd on April 16th. But I've already had several emails pointing out that tonight's FA Cup win means that the suspension can be served in the FA Cup semi final on April 13th instead. Big relief, everyone says. We'll miss him less against the Blades than against Man Utd (let's put to one side the fact that we're only through to the semi because we beat Man U at Old Trafford and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, without Thierry!).

Well I have to admit I'm not sure about this. It looks to me like Thierry isn't going to miss any games through susepnsion at all. According to the disciplinary rules published on the official FA website in May of last year, 5 bookings would only have resulted in a ban if picked up before the end of February (see rule 7a).

I could be wrong. If anyone knows for sure please let us know.

Note that Pascal Cygan's red card tonight means that he misses the cup semi-final. Let's hope Keown is back by then. Cygan may be flawed but he's better than the alternatives.

Rupe adds...
So far everyone seems to agree that there is no ban. David Alexander points out that Forest player Michael Dawson (quite good apparently) played on Saturday despite having reached 5 bookings during March.

I just can't work out why so many journos seem to reckon he our Terry is facing a ban. Wishful thinking, perhaps? :-)

Incidentally, Edu also passed the 5 card mark, in the first cup match against Chelsea. Players who pass 5 yellow cards after the end of Feb will only get a warning from the FA, unless they go on to reach 10 by the second Sunday in April.