Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright Believes that Manchester United forward Romelu Lukaku deserved to be banned for his alleged kick at Brighton and Hove Albion defender Gaetan Bong, and asked why the Football Association decided not to take retrospective action against him.

Lukaku escaped any sanction despite television footage appearing to show him aiming a kick in Bong’s direction during United’s 1-0 victory on Saturday. The incident was not seen by referee Neil Swarbrick, but was referred to an FA panel for review.

However, the panel decided that Lukaku had no case to answer, which triggered a bemused response from Wright.

“If they look back at it, how can they not see it is not right what he is done? Should he be done? Yes,” Wright said on BBC Radio 5 live.

“As soon as I saw it, I thought they will probably look at it. You think, why has he got away with it?”

The footage was reviewed by a three-man panel made up of former Premier League referees, which did not unanimously agree that the incident warranted a red card – which would have resulted in a three-match ban to rule him out of United’s upcoming Premier League matches.

By avoiding a ban, Lukaku will be available for United’s matches against Watford on Tuesday, Arsenal and – crucially – Manchester City.

Wright believed that Lukaku had deliberately kicked out at Bong, which would usually result in a straight sending-off if spotted during a match, and the decision not to punish him has also led to allegations from other fans that bigger clubs in the Premier League receive preferential treatment compared to others.

Lukaku was seen to aim a kick towards Bong during the 1-0 victory (Getty)

“He has kicked out at him. He has had two digs at him,” Wright added.