UPDATE: Evans charged with spitting at Cisse

As you may noticed from the kerfuffle in the media, Jonny Evans and Papiss Cisse have been accused of spitting at one another in the course of an encounter during yesterday's match. The United defender has just released a statement via manutd.com denying any such nefariousness:

Having woken up this morning I am shocked to have seen the media coverage from last night's match. I would like to make it clear that I did not spit at Papiss Cisse.

I was totally unaware of any spitting incident and had assumed that the issue at the time was with the challenge and his attempted retaliation to the tackle from the floor. During the game Papiss Cisse and I spoke about the incident and it is clear by my reaction in the television footage that I was totally surprised by any suggestion of spitting.

It is not in my character or in my nature to spit at anybody nor is it something I have ever done or would ever do. It is certainly not something that I did last night.

How that stacks up in the face of video evidence that certainly seems to show something a little bit spittley, we'll wait and see. There is the potential for a six-game ban if Evans is found to have been naughty, which sounds like a comically long time to us, but there we are. We don't make the rules.

Another update: both players have been charged by the FA.

Update: for his part, Cisse has apologised. To everybody.

BREAKING: Papiss Cisse says sorry: "firstly to supporters, secondly to Jonny Evans, and thirdly to every football fan who saw the incident."

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 5, 2015