Manchester United’s striker, ROMELU LUKAKU has escaped a possible ban that would have ruled him out of the Manchester derby.

There will be no action taken against Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku for allegedly kicking out at Brighton defender Gaetan Bong.

The alleged incident happened in United’s 1-0 win on Saturday but was not seen by referee Neil Swarbrick.

The Football Association referred it to three ex-Premier League referees to independently review on Monday.

They each had to agree it was a sending off offense for action to be taken and that was not the case.

The decision means Lukaku has escaped a three-match domestic ban which would have seen him miss league games against Watford, Arsenal and Manchester City.

It means Lukaku will not be suspended and the news is a huge boost for United boss Jose Mourinho.

If the panel had all agreed it was a red card offense then Lukaku would have been hit with a three-match ban.

The Belgium ace would have missed tomorrow’s trip to Watford, Saturday’s clash with Arsenal at the Emirates and the explosive derby showdown with City at Old Trafford on December 10.

The Belgium international, 24, moved to United in the summer from Everton and scored 10 goals in his first nine outings for the Old Trafford club.

However, Lukaku has scored just once in his last 10 games for the club.

Losing the Belgian for crunch games with the Gunners and Pep Guardiola’s league leaders would have been a massive setback to Mourinho.

United are clinging to the coat tails of their bitter-rivals and neighbours and the Portuguese know losing the derby would all-but end their title challenge before Christmas.

Lukaku has made an impressive start to life at United following his £90m summer switch from Everton, plundering 12 goals in all competitions to be their leading scorer.