The incident between Daniel Podence and Brennan Johnson happened during 90th minute of Wolves and Nottingham Forest 1-1 draw; Johnson said after the game that he "felt some sort of spit came towards my face"; Podence has denied spitting at Johnson after being charged by the FA
Thursday 6 April 2023 13:57, UK
Wolves forward Daniel Podence has denied spitting at Brennan Johnson during Saturday's 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest after being charged by the FA.
The incident occurred in the 90th minute and was checked by the VAR at the time but no action was taken by referee Chris Kavanagh.
The FA has since charged Podence but, reacting to the news on social media, the 27-year-old denied the allegation.
He said on his Instagram story: "As I have been accused of something I haven't done... I will make it clear.
"I did not spit on Nottingham's player. I'm telling the truth and I would never do such a thing even more to a colleague. Thank you."
After the game at the City Ground, Johnson said he was surprised Podence escaped punishment.
He said: "I'm not going to allegate him, but I felt like some sort of spit came towards my face. The referees have had a look at it, so it's done now. I'm completely fine with it.
"At the end of the day, it's the VAR team having a look at that, not me. I've seen it close up and they're having a lot of different looks at it. Maybe they didn't see something that I did see, so at the end of the day they didn't give a red card and I just had to get on with the rest of the game."
If found guilty, Podence would face a mandatory six-match suspension which would be a big blow to Wolves in their battle to avoid being sucked into the relegation zone.
Nottingham Forest have also been charged for failing to control their players when they surrounded the referee in the 40th minute after Kavanagh waved away their penalty appeals when Emmanuel Dennis' cross appeared to strike Nelson Semedo on the hand.
Forest assistant Alan Tate and Wolves assistant Pablo Sanz have also been charged for "improper and/or violent" conduct in the 52nd minute after they were both sent off after a touchline melee.
Podence, Forest, Tate and Sanz have until Wednesday April 12 to provide their respective responses to the FA.
