Manchester United defender Jonny Evans is adamant he didn't spit at Newcastle United striker Papiss Cisse. Evans reacted angrily during their 1-0 win at St James' Park earlier this month, with television cameras seemingly catching him in the act.

But Evans insists the altercations is not what it appears, even if the FA felt the need to slap him with a six-match ban.

"I can totally understand there is an image around that, and in the British game and our society it's not something that is accepted, and rightly so," Evans told The Times.

"But I was able to go home and look my mum and dad in the eye because if I'd genuinely spat at someone I think they would have been disgusted in me.

"It's not the background I come from in Northern Ireland. My mum and dad would have given me a rollicking if I had done that."