This article originally appeared on VICE Sports UK.In the 76th minute of Manchester City's hard-fought win over West Ham on Sunday, Sergio Aguero did something which he may well come to regret. Tightly marked by Hammers defender Winston Reid, he threw a sharp elbow straight at his opponent's face. While he didn't connect with the force he was perhaps hoping for, Aguero's intentions seemed pretty clear. It was a bad deed, and a deliberate bad deed, a bit like when that woman capriciously threw a cat in a wheelie bin back in 2010. Much like that woman, Aguero is now faced with the full force of the public's outrage. Much like that woman, Aguero may never be allowed to forget his terrible misdemeanour. Winston Reid is the bewildered cat in this analogy, by the way.With the FA now reviewing footage of the incident, Aguero could receive a three match ban. As many pundits have pointed out, if it had been Diego Costa who threw that elbow, the punishment would be harsh and swift. This is an exceedingly silly viewpoint, of course, as Costa gets away with the vast majority of the awful shit he does, and it's usually the person he's just punched in the bollocks who gets sent off for ruffling his hair, or something. Still, that doesn't change the fact that Aguero deserves whatever suspension is coming his way.
Should Aguero be banned for the next three matches, he'll miss games against Swansea, Bournemouth and, gasp, Manchester United. While it's too soon to bill the Manchester derby as 'an early title decider', it's certainly a game that could have a huge bearing on the season. Aguero is to Manchester City what pollen is to flowers, what flowers are to a verdant meadow, what raw coal is to the coking refinery process. Without one, you cannot have the other, or at least the other will struggle to get three points when they go to Old Trafford on September 10.It's quite feasible that, without Aguero in their ranks, City might come unstuck against United. His absence could be a decisive factor, and could see the two clubs' trajectories diverge. In the future, we could look back to him elbowing Reid as the moment that changed the course of the season, and history itself. With the butterfly effect in play, a million possible consequences are now hurtling through the ether. Worlds shall end, civilisations shall fall, and it will all be because Sergio Aguero tried to whack Winston Reid right on his fucking hooter.