Manchester City relief as Vincent Kompany has red card overturned

Captain was sent off during victory over Arsenal

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has seen his sending off during the 2-0 victory over Arsenal on Sunday overturned.

The Belgian centre-back was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Jack Wilshere with 14 minutes of the match remaining.

Replays showed Kompany's challenge to be outstanding and entirely legitimate.

However referee Mike Dean, who has sent Laurent Koscielny off earlier in the match, saw things differently at the time, adjudging the challenge to be two-footed.

Cit were swift to announce their intention to appeal and, following a Football Association disciplinary hearing, have now confirmed their claim for wrongful dismissal has been upheld.

The FA has also released a statement which reads: "An independent regulatory commission has today upheld a claim of wrongful dismissal regarding Manchester City's Vincent Kompany.

"The defender was dismissed for serious foul play during his side's match against Arsenal on Sunday, January 13, 2013.

"As a result, Kompany's three-match suspension has been withdrawn with immediate effect."

Kompany would have missed the league games against Fulham and QPR plus the FA Cup fourth-round tie against Stoke City or Crystal Palace had the sending off stood.

Manchester City will be particularly relieved at today's decision considering the continued injury enforced absence of Micah Richards and that Kolo Toure is away at the African Nations Cup.

Kompany took to Twitter after the game to state his case.

He wrote: "No grudges against the referee, I understand the difficulty of the job.

"About the tackle: If the ball is overrun by the opponent and a 50/50 challenge occurs, collision is inevitable.

"Ultimately I'm a defender: Appeal may work or not. I will never pull out of a challenge, as much as I will never intend to injury a player."