Sergio Aguero escapes action over tackle

Manchester: Sergio Aguero has become the latest Premier League player to get away with a horror tackle.

The FA decided yesterday they could not punish the Manchester City striker retrospectively for his clash with David Luiz at Wembley.

Aguero was shown on TV stamping two-footed on the Chelsea defender after Luiz elbowed him in the chest during Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final.

But, just as with Wigan’s Callum McManaman recently, the FA were unable to act as their own rules state that they cannot do so if match officials are thought to have seen the incident and taken what they felt to be appropriate action at the time.

McManaman wasn’t punished for his tackle on Newcastle’s Massadio Haidara in a Barclays Premier League game at the DW Stadium last month because a linesman saw the incident.

On this occasion, the fact that referee Chris Foy gave Chelsea a free-kick suggested that he had seen the tackle himself.

It will, however, do little to appease the growing number of people in football who feel the rules — agreed by all top flight clubs last summer — are simply wrong.

Aguero will now be free to play in City’s league game at home to FA Cup final opponents Wigan tomorrow night and against Tottenham and West Ham. Ironically, Chelsea may not be too upset at the decision as a City win over Tottenham at White Hart Lane next Sunday would help their own efforts to secure third place in the Premier League.

Aguero is in prime form — scoring in his last two games — and will be a certain starter in north London.

Meanwhile, City defender Micah Richards is back in the squad to face Wigan.

Richards, 24, has not played since injuring knee ligaments in October and his return has twice been delayed by minor setbacks. However, he is expected to start on the bench.

Richards has only played some reserve-team football in recent weeks and is not yet ready for 90 minutes. But with City’s players recovering from their gruelling semi-final, manager Roberto Mancini is keen to relieve some of the load on current first choice Pablo Zabaleta.

Mancini will resist the temptation to throw winger David Silva back into the fray as the Spaniard continues to recover from a hamstring injury.

Silva could start against Wigan at a push but Mancini doesn’t want to risk a setback ahead of the visit to Tottenham.