Manchester United star in danger of missing Arsenal and Manchester City games

Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku is in danger of being hit with a retrospective three-game ban that would rule him out of matches against Watford, Arsenal and Manchester City, claims The Daily Mail.

Lukaku was caught on camera appearing to kick out at Brighton defender Gaetan Bong on two occasions as United attacked a corner just after the hour-mark in their 1-0 win on Saturday.

The incident was not only missed by referee Neil Swarbrick, but largely went unnoticed by everyone as Ashley Young’s deflected effort spiralled into the net minutes later.

However, video footage has picked up the incident and now Jose Mourinho’s side are waiting to discover whether the Football Association will take retrospective action against their No.9.

A three-game ban would rule Lukaku out of United’s trip to Watford on Tuesday night, but crucially mean the Belgium international would miss huge matches against Arsenal and City.

United are already eight points behind leaders City and the absence of one of their best players would be a huge blow going into the first Manchester Derby of the season.

His potential absence could force Mourinho to accelerate Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s return from injury, having eased the veteran striker back into first-team action in recent weeks.

The 36-year-old has got 57 minutes of first-team football under his belt in three substitute appearances since suffering a career-threatening knee injury back in April.

Lukaku has played a direct hand in 11 goals in 13 Premier League appearances for United, but has only scored once in his last six league outings.