Watford's appeal against the red card shown to Marvin Zeegelaar against Burnley has been rejected.
Zeegelaar will sit out the Premier League fixtures against Crystal Palace, Huddersfield and Brighton after being sent off for a two-footed challenge on Steven Defour in Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Turf Moor.
"Watford will be without Marvin Zeegelaar for the next three games after the club's appeal against his red card at Burnley on Saturday proved unsuccessful,'' the club tweeted.
Watford boss Marco Silva insisted after the match that referee Lee Probert had been wrong to show Zeegelaar a straight red card in the 40th minute.
"There was a good competition between everybody, then after one decision the referee made a big difference in the match, a big influence, and it was a harsh decision for me,'' Silva said.
"It's not a red -- that changed everything, and after two or three minutes they scored. The referee never had control of the match and he lost it with the moment when he made the mistake.
"I understand I can make mistakes and so can our players, and the referee can too, but he made a big mistake and that had a big influence.''
