Reading duo could avoid punishment

Reading duo Stephen Hunt and Ibrahima Sonko are almost certain to escape punishment from the Football Association after their controversial challenges left Chelsea goalkeepers Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini in hospital.

Cech was hurt in a first-minute clash with Hunt at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday and has since undergone surgery for a depressed fracture of the skull at the Radcliffe Infirmary’s specialist neuro-surgical unit in Oxford.

Cudicini was carried off in the closing stages with concussion and the injuries have left the Premiership champions with a goalkeeping crisis ahead of their Champions League game with Barcelona on Wednesday.

Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho was angered by both incidents but PA Sport understands the FA are unlikely to take any action because of the difficulty in proving intent in both cases.

Cech is expected to be out of action until the new year after his successful operation but the incident was not specifically mentioned in referee Mike Riley’s report.

Chelsea, who issued a statement over the weekend backing Mourinho’s post-match comments about the challenges, are set to write to the FA with their observations.

However, the FA have not yet received anything from the club but will take their comments into account and also scrutinise video evidence.

However, opinion is already divided in football as to whether Hunt or Sonko deliberately set out to hurt either goalkeeper and the FA’s position is made more difficult by the lack of a real precedent in such cases.

The only firm one they can rely on is Ben Thatcher’s elbow on Portsmouth midfielder Pedro Mendes but that was easy for the FA to deal as the incident was so clear-cut.

Reading have apologised to Chelsea but remain confident that TV evidence will vindicate their players.