Cole and Knight fail with appeals

LONDON, England -- Chelsea's Ashley Cole and Aston Villa's Zat Knight failed with appeals against their red cards in Wednesday's Premier League game at Stamford Bridge.

Cole will miss Chelsea's home game with Newcastle and Knight is out of Villa's fixture at Wigan on Saturday.

Knight's absence may provide central defender Curtis Davies with the chance to make his first Premiership start for the midlanders.

Referee Phil Dowd dismissed Knight for bringing down Michael Ballack to concede a penalty, which enabled Chelsea to pull back to 2-1 just before the interval in a match which ended 4-4.

Villa manager Martin O'Neill had suggested that Ballack dived to win the penalty but Ballack strongly denied the allegation.

"For me there is no discussion about this," Ballack said. "I had the ball and two guys, not just one, came and one pushed me. It was a clear penalty."

After Knight's hearing O'Neill said: "We are obviously disappointed because we felt we had a case. But we abide by the decision and prepare for tomorrow's important game at Wigan without him."

Davies has been restricted to three substitute appearances in the Premier League since his arrival on loan from West Bromwich in August.

Gareth Barry could drop back from midfield to cover for left-back Wilfred Bouma, who has an ankle injury.

Midfielder Stiliyan Petrov is doubtful after going down with a virus on Christmas Day.

Cole was sent off for handling on the goal-line near the end of Wednesday's match and Villa scored their fourth goal from the resultant penalty.

The Londoners, who also had Ricardo Carvalho dismissed against Villa, have confirmed that England midfielder Frank Lampard could be back playing "within a few weeks" after scans revealed he had torn his right thigh muscle against Villa.

A statement released by Chelsea read: "Scans have revealed a tear in Frank Lampard's right thigh.

"The tear is not in the same leg that Frank injured earlier this season. He will begin his rehabilitation immediately and we hope to have him back playing within a few weeks."

Carvalho was apologetic about the tackle which caused his sending-off.

He said: "It was never my intention to hurt Gabriel Agbonlahor with the tackle. I didn't see him after the game to apologize but I asked for a message to be passed on to him." E-mail to a friend