Angry Liverpool and Arsenal fans fume as Romelu Lukaku escapes ban for kicking Gaetan Bong

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Man Utd forward Romelu Lukaku has escaped a retrospective ban after an FA panel opted to take no action following his kick out at Gaetan Bong.

The incident occurred during United’s 1-0 win over Brighton at Old Trafford over the weekend, with BBC Sport confirming that a three-man panel of former Premier League referees was unable to reach a unanimous decision that it was a ‘sending off offence’.

In turn, that means Lukaku has avoided a three-match ban which would have seen him sit out clashes with Watford, Arsenal and Manchester City.

Instead, he’ll be part of the travelling party to Vicarage Road on Tuesday night, and will force the Gunners and City to prepare for the threat that he poses up top for Jose Mourinho’s men.

Unsurprisingly, the decision not to ban him hasn’t gone down well with rival supporters, particularly with Liverpool and Arsenal fans hitting out on social media, as seen below.

The reasoning is different for the two sets of supporters, as looking at Liverpool’s issue firstly, fans have hit out at how Sadio Mane was handed a three-game ban for his clash with City goalkeeper Ederson earlier this season, and yet Lukaku has managed to escape a ban altogether in what they perceive was a situation where there was actual intent rather than an accidental collision.

As for Arsenal fans, and the same will apply to City supporters too of course, they were hugely annoyed that Lukaku escaped a ban which means he’ll line up against them at the Emirates on Saturday evening.

United have plenty of attacking threats to be concerned about, but ultimately the physicality that the Belgian international will bring to lead the line could be problematic for the Arsenal backline, and many of their supporters believe that he shouldn’t be playing any part in the encounter.

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