Whelan escapes rap and defends two-footed lunge

Stoke’s Irish international Glenn Whelan is free to face Wigan in tonight’s Premer League clash, (7.45pm) after he learned he will not face retrospective action from the FA over his two-footed challenge on Manchester City’s Javi Garcia.

Referee Howard Webb took no action at the time and the FA has said the laws of the game rule it can only take action retrospectively for incidents not seen by match officials.

The Stoke midfielder defended his challenge. Whelan said: “I’ve gone in for the challenge and I don’t think I tried to be dirty, but if it looks that way on TV then I’ll have to hold my hands up. I don’t think I caught him as much as he was rolling about.

“It’s the English game, the old-fashioned game, and that’s what the Premier League is so good for.”

Wigan are through to the fifth round of the cup after edging out non-league Macclesfield on Saturday but boss Roberto Martinez admits they are in dire need of a result tonight having slipped to second from bottom.

“This year, the bottom 10 positions are really open,” Martinez said. “There will be a lot of twists and turns from now until the end of the season.”