Andy Carroll
Carroll will now serve a three-game ban.

West Ham United have failed in appealing Andy Carroll's red card against Swansea City despite appearing before an Independent Arbitral Tribunal to challenge The Football Association's decision to hand the England international a three-match ban.

Carroll was dismissed by referee Howard Webb after a clash with Swansea City defender Chico Flores during the Hammers' 2-0 win at Upton Park last weekend, with the east London club failing in an appeal of the decision.

The Premier League relegation candidates took their case to a tribunal on Friday to seek a reprieve in order to have Carroll, West Ham's record signing, available for the remainder of the month however their plea has been rejected.

An statement on The FA website read: "An Independent Arbitration Tribunal convened under FA Rule K has today dismissed a legal challenge brought by West Ham United FC and Andy Carroll in relation to the red card received by Carroll in the match between West Ham United FC and Swansea City FC on 1 February 2014.

"The Independent Tribunal resolved that there was no serious issue to be tried and also awarded The FA its costs."

With Carroll now set to miss the Premier League game against Aston Villa this weekend as well as the home game against Norwich City and the trip to Southampton, West Ham are expected to relent in their attempt to have the ban reduced though they have the option of appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Prior to the result of the appeal, manager Sam Allardyce whose side are a point from safety in the Premier League, said: "I think the whole procedure in terms of how we put our case together and the vast swell of people felt it was unjust and for me the panel has not seen it how they should have seen it and as the evidence we gave.

"It's easy to hide behind the regulations or what the law says, but that's an easy way out for me. Referees often say technically it's this and that or 'the letter of the law' and that and it grinds on you.

"In this case they were looking at it from the view of one thing only: was it an obvious mistake? So we based our procedure on this, and I'm 100 per cent certain it was an obvious mistake?

"[Referee] Howard Webb should have given a free-kick for Andy against [Chico] Flores, at that stage the whistle blows and there's no incident, so that's an obvious mistake, it's an obvious free-kick.

"The second thing is: did he have a clear view and clear eye line of the incident? Howard had just watched it in his dressing room when I went to talk to him. And so that's a great piece of evidence to say, 'Did you see clearly what had happened?"

Carroll missed the first five months of the season with a foot injury, and made three assists in five matches, including two in the win over Swansea, as West Ham finally began to benefit from their £15m investment.

However, his absence deepens West Ham's relegation fears and leaves the club short in attack throughout the remainder of March.

Flores, the victim of the alleged elbow from Carroll which saw him dismissed in the second half against the Swans, was been heavily criticised for his reaction to the incident which then Swansea boss Michael Laudrup condemned.