In depth: Should Vardy have been sent off? And what would an extended ban mean for Leicester?

Jamie Vardy was sent off by Jon Moss in the 56th minute for diving during Leicester’s match against West Ham following a tangle of legs with Angelo Ogbonna inside the penalty area. It was his second bookable offence after he was late on a tackle with Cheikhou Kouyate in the first half.

After he saw red, the England striker jabbed his finger at the referee and shouted angrily at him - actions which led to him being hit with an FA charge for improper conduct on Monday afternoon.

At the time of the incident Leicester were 1-0 up but then conceded goals from Andy Carroll and Aaron Cresswell in he final 10 minutes. Leonardo Ulloa then scored a penalty in the fourth minute of extra-time to snatch a draw after Carroll had bundled over Jeffrey Schlupp.

There has been a completely mixed reaction. Many are saying that because there was contact, it was a foul and should have been a spot-kick. Others think Vardy was looking for the contact and fell too easily.

Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, both former England strikers, were highly critical of Jon Moss. Shearer told the BBC: "I did not think the tackle that got Vardy his first booking was worthy of a yellow card at all, but this one was definitely a dive.

"As much as you can criticise the referee for what happens later, Vardy has to take some criticism because it is blatant.

"There was no need for him to dive, because he has got the wrong side of the defender anyway. He was expecting contact, contact didn't come and there was even a little pirouette in there just as he was going over."

However, Gary Lineker, a Leicester fan, disagreed with his Match of the Day colleague, and thought it was a penalty.

Not at all. Moss was also criticised by West Ham's Carroll for the late penalty decision. The striker showed his annoyance after the game that West Ham's push for Europe is faltering and pointed the finger at Moss. "It is the same week in, week out," Carroll said. "The same decisions, bad decisions costing us games. It is eight points now that we've dropped. It is not acceptable, to be honest.

"I know that, the manager knows that, all the players know that and a lot of the people standing around know that. I mean, it is a bad decision - it is bad decisions he has given all game. It's not the first time and probably won't be the last."

And it wasn't just Carroll. Others from the world of sport were highly critical of the referee for many of his decisions....

Definitely. There is certainly precedent. The FA gave Chelsea striker Diego Costa an additional one-match ban earlier this month for the way he responded to his second yellow card in his side's FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Everton. The 27-year-old was also handed a £20,000 fine and a warned over future conduct.

Also, it seems there was some further controversy behind the scenes when referees Moss appeared to confront a Leicester member of staff in the tunnel. However, the club deleted the footage from their Tunnel Cam.

The fact that Vardy has been charged means that Moss must have included the incident in his report on Monday. Now it comes down to how FA's disciplinary panel decide to play it.

Well the match against West Ham was a double blow. Not only did they drop two points, giving second-placed Tottenham the chance to close the gap to five when they face Stoke on Monday night, their leading scorer ruled himself out of at least one match. So, this really will be a test of their mettle. Pundits have been writing them off all season and, with just four games to go, they need to pick up eight more points, assuming that Spurs continue to pick up victories.

Swansea (Sun, Apr 24, 16:15, home)

Man Utd (Sun, May 1, 14:05, away)

Everton (Sat, 7 May, 17:30, home)

Chelsea Sun, May 15,15:00, away)

Stoke (Mon, Apr 18, 20.00, away)

West Brom (Mon, Apr 25, 20:00, home)

Chelsea (Mon, May 2, 20:00, away)

Southampton (Sun, May 8,13:30, home)

Newcastle (Sun, May 15, 15:00, away)

Leicester: 3/10

Tottenham: 7/2

Apparently not. Despite the problems Vardy's dismissal could cause, the Italian said: "Never we are worried. We were worried at the beginning of the season to achieve 40 points. Now we enjoy, I never speak with my players about the gap, blah, blah, blah. Everything is in our hands. If we fight and win it's okay.

"If the other team, it could be Tottenham or Arsenal, is better than us and wins the title, well done. We are doing the maximum. If there is another team who play better and win more than us, well done to them."

And of the critical incident with Vardy, Ranieri backed his striker all the way. He added: "He (Vardy) never dives. He's always good. He's very fast and at this speed if you touch even a little then (you may go down). But it's okay. I always speak with the players about our performance and our performance was good."