Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku should have been sent off for his kick on Gaetan Bong, the FA must take retrospective action and ban him

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Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku must face a three-match ban once the FA view replays of the incident between the Belgian and Brighton’s Gaetan Bong just before the only goal of the game.

The incident started with the usual jostling between players at a corner but turned into a much more serious clash.

Lukaku was impeded as the corner came in but his reaction was extreme, kicking out first with his right foot and then making full contact with his left foot somewhere quite painful. 

Romelu Lukaku reacted in the extreme to pressure from Gaetan Bong and kicked out twice

The pair went up for the ball, with Lukaku lashing out at the Brighton defender upon landing

Lukaku repeated the motion twice in quick succession while focus was on Ashley Young (right)

It was a violent act which would have resulted in a red card had referee Neil Swarbrick seen it. The Brighton full back did remarkably well to not react, nor complain to the officials. He deserves praise for that.

Later in the second half, Swarbrick did see the challenge by Shane Duffy on Zlatan Ibrahimovic but failed to punish it correctly.

Duffy flew into a tackle in the 87th minute with studs first and at pace, wiping out the Swede, who could have been seriously injured.

It was also a red-card offence but, as Swarbrick punished it with a yellow card at the time, the FA cannot act.

United manager Jose Mourinho will be understandably irritated if Lukaku is banned retrospectively after Duffy escaped, but he should take comfort in the three points because the only goal of the game — Ashley Young’s deflected effort — came just after the whistle should have blown for Lukaku’s assault. 

The Belgian has been struggling for form recently and this will only add to his worries

Shane Duffy also could have been sent off at Old Trafford for his lunge on Zlatan Ibrahimovic