Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku to face no punishment for kicking Brighton's Gaetan Bong

Television cameras appeared to show the United striker kick out at Bong

The Football Association will take no further action against Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku (Getty)

Romelu Lukaku has been cleared to play in next month's Manchester derby after the Football Association chose to take no further action against him for an alleged kick on Brighton and Hove Albion's Gaetan Bong.

Television images appeared to show the Manchester United striker kick out at Bong prior to Lewis Dunk's decisive own goal which consigned Brighton to a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford on Saturday.

Lukaku lashed out at Bong twice following the breakdown of a United corner, making contact with the second kick, but he was not punished as referee Neil Swarbrick failed to spot the incident.

The 23-year-old faced the prospect of a retrospective violent conduct charge and a three-match ban if English football's governing body had elected to take further action.

Lukaku would have been ruled out of United's trips to Watford and Arsenal on the Tuesday and Saturday of this week respectively, as well as the derby against league leaders Manchester City on 10 December.

However, a FA panel of three former referees could not reach a unanimous decision on whether Lukaku's kick constituted a red-card offence.

Lukaku is United's top scorer this season with 12 goals in 20 appearances since joining from Everton for £75m in the summer.

The Belgian has only scored one goal in his last 10 appearances, however, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic has returned from a seven-month injury lay-off to provide competition up front.