• Rooney has no case to answer, says Football Association • Manchester United striker seen to elbow Wigan midfielder

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

Wayne Rooney will face no disciplinary action for his elbow on Wigan Athletic's James McCarthy at the DW Stadium on Saturday.

The FA spoke to the referee, Mark Clattenburg, this morning and he said he saw the incident and was satisfied that he dealt with it appropriately at the time.

Any ban would have ruled Rooney out of Tuesday's Premier League match against Chelsea, Sunday's meeting with Liverpool and the FA Cup quarter-final tie against either Leyton Orient or Arsenal.

However, the Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said he had no problems with Rooney playing tomorrow. "If these are the rules, and the FA decided this, I am happy to play against Rooney," he said.

Television replays apparently showed Rooney swipe McCarthy on the back of his head with an elbow after the midfielder had appeared set to block the Manchester United striker's run.

At the time Clattenburg awarded a free-kick. His opinion that he dealt with the incident at the time leaves the governing body, under its own legislation, powerless to launch disciplinary proceedings against the 25-year-old.

Clattenburg has been offered support by Mike Riley, the general manager of Professional Game Match Officials.

"Mark took the correct course of action with this incident," Riley said. "Match officials are trained to prioritise following the ball, as that's where the greater majority of incidents are going to take place.

"However, we also do a lot of work around the area of peripheral vision to be aware of anything that might potentially happen off-the-ball.

"In this incident Mark was following play but caught sight of two players coming together and he awarded a free kick because he believed one player had impeded the other.

"We should be clear that Mark did nothing wrong in officiating this incident as he acted on what he saw on the pitch."