Sergio Agüero has been charged with violent misconduct and could miss next month’s derby with Manchester United after the City striker appeared to elbow West Ham’s Winston Reid during the Premier League match on Sunday.

A statement from the FA said: “Sergio Agüero has been charged for an alleged act of violent conduct which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.

"The Manchester City forward was involved in an incident with West Ham United's Winston Reid in the 76th minute of the game on Sunday [August 28th 2016]. He has until 6pm on Wednesday August 31st to reply.

“Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite match officials. Each panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence.

“For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision of the panel must be unanimous.”

The incident occurred in the second half of the 3-1 win over West Ham. After Andre Marriner, the referee, did not act the Football Association was able to take retrospective action if the official’s report confirmed he had not seen the alleged elbow.

If found guilty Agüero will receive a three-game ban, meaning in addition to the derby, which is at Old Trafford, the Argentinian will miss the visit of Bournemouth and the trip to Swansea City in the Capital One Cup.

(Guardian service)