Tottenham defender Alan Hutton has refused to criticise Chelsea left-back Ashley Cole following his dangerous tackle on him on Wednesday night.
The incident provoked an angry reaction from both sets of players and both benches as tempers threatened to boil over.
Cole was fortunate to escape a red card, with the England international only shown a yellow card from referee Mike Riley.
But Hutton refused to blame Cole for the tackle, and accepted his apology. Hutton told the Daily Mail: "He went to win the ball and I've just got there quicker.
"I wasn't thinking about whether he would be sent off, I knew the challenge was high but so was the ball.
"I am not blaming him for it, I've probably done a similar challenge in my career. He said he never meant it afterwards and that's fine with me."
