Jonny Evans denies spitting at Papiss Cisse

Manchester United defender Jonny Evans has released a statement via the club to deny claims he spat at Newcastle striker Papiss Cisse during Wednesday’s win at St James’ Park.

The two had a coming together on the half-way line during the first half and TV replays showed what looked like the pair spitting at eachother after Cisse kicked-out at the Northern Ireland international.

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While no action was taken on the pitch by the referee, reports today suggest that both players could be on the receiving end of SIX game bans if found guilty by the FA.

Evans has moved quickly to release a statement denying any spitting offence – despite TV images suggesting otherwise.

"“Having woken up this morning I am shocked to have seen the media coverage from last night’s match. I would like to make it clear that I did not spit at Papiss Cisse.“I was totally unaware of any spitting incident and had assumed that the issue at the time was with the challenge and his attempted retaliation to the tackle from the floor. During the game Papiss Cisse and I spoke about the incident and it is clear by my reaction in the television footage that I was totally surprised by any suggestion of spitting.“It is not in my character or in my nature to spit at anybody nor is it something I have ever done or would ever do. It is certainly not something that I did last night.”"

Papiss Cisse has also issued his own statement about the incident, where he apologized for spitting at Evans but insisted that it was a reaction to something he found “very unpleasant”.

"“I have apologies to make to a lot of people today. Firstly to my teammates and to our supporters, secondly to Jonny Evans, and thirdly to every football fan who saw the incident between myself and Jonny.“I reacted to something I found very unpleasant. Sometimes it is hard not to react, particularly in the heat of the moment. I have always tried hard to be a positive role model, especially for our young fans, and yesterday I let you down.“I hope children out there playing football for their clubs and schools this weekend will know better than to retaliate when they are angry. Perhaps when they see the problem it now causes me and my team they will be able to learn from my mistake, not copy it.”"

Both players are expected to be charged with the offence but it seems Evans will be challenging it. If he receives a six-game ban he will miss the FA Cup quarter-final against Arsenal plus league games against Tottenham, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Chelsea.

*UPDATE*

Both players have officially been charged now by the FA after the incident during Wednesday’s game at St James’ Park. An official statement released by the FA said;

"Newcastle United’s Papiss Cisse and Manchester United’s Jonny Evans have both been charged by The FA following their game on Wednesday 4 March 2015.The charges are in relation to an alleged breach of FA Rule E1[a] in that in or around the 38th minute of the game the two players spat at each other.The incidents were not seen by the match officials but caught on video.Both players have until 6pm on Friday 6 March 2015 to respond to the charge.In Premier League matches, if an incident has not been seen by the match officials, a three-man panel of former elite referees will be asked by The FA to review the footage independently of each other.They will then advise what, if any action, they believe the match referee should have taken had it been witnessed at the time.For an FA charge to follow, all three panel members must agree it is a sending-off offence. In this instance, the decision by the panel was unanimous in respect of both players.”"

Both Jonny Evans and Papiss Cisse have until 6pm on Friday evening to respond to their charges. If found guilty they face a minimum suspension of six-matches.

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