The 26-year-old was booked for the 10th time this season for a challenge on the Chelsea striker during the Black Cats' 2-1 Barclays Premier League defeat at Stamford Bridge at the weekend, and will now serve a two-match ban.
Gardner has insisted he should not even have been cautioned by referee Neil Swarbrick.
Craig Gardner: "It's not the start that I wanted, but it's not a yellow card.
"It was a fair tackle. He's just rolled around and forced the booking.
"I'll be involved on the training pitch, I'll be in the tunnel before the game, geeing every one of our lads up.
"I can assure the fans I'll get the team up for it, I'll be right behind every player on Sunday. It's football, but there we are."