Sky Sports News confirm that Preston North End’s Milutin Osmajic has been handed an eight-match ban for biting Blackburn Rovers’ Owen Beck.

Osmajic had accepted an FA charge of violent conduct, but Preston were hoping that he’d only get a four-match ban. If that had happened, he could have returned just in time to face Arsenal.

That always seemed like a long shot though, with Luis Suarez previously having been banned for 10 games after his biting offence against Branislav Ivanovic.

Perhaps this offence was deserving of a slightly lesser suspension than Suarez received. Though the bite action was very similar, Osmajic was reacting to a red-card offence from Beck, whereas Suarez was reacting to being tackled.

At the very least, Osmajic could claim that Beck incited the incident by kicking out at one of Osmajic’s teammates. It would have been hard for Suarez to make a similar claim.

Suarez had also already been banned for biting during his time with Ajax, so he had a history for it.

But Preston’s hope of a four-game ban was always wildly optimistic, and eight games seems like the bare minimum for this kind of offence.