Robin van Persie will not face any retrospective action from the Football Association for what appeared to be an elbow in the face of the Newcastle United midfielder Yohan Cabaye on Sunday.

The incident occurred towards the close of Manchester United's 3-0 win at St James' Park and, if Van Persie had been found guilty of an offence, it could have cost Sir Alex Ferguson his services for the Premier League matches with Stoke City and Chelsea, plus the Capital One Cup encounter with the London club.

In the 84th minute of United's win, Van Persie ran past Cabaye with his arm seeming to move to the Frenchman's face. It is understood that Howard Webb, the referee, did not see the incident at the time but, on reviewing television evidence, the official concluded that he would not have sent the Dutchman off, so no further action will be taken.

Following the defeat Alan Pardew, the Newcastle manager, was incensed, claiming that the incident did warrant further investigation. "He has looked at Yohan and he has elbowed him and I think that perhaps needs to be looked at, if I am honest," Pardew said. "There's a bit of history from last year and I don't know if Robin has been caught up in that, but that was just a little bit unsavoury. I actually thought Yohan wouldn't have gone down if he hadn't done something. I didn't see it myself, but I have obviously seen it on the replay and it looks like he has looked at him and put his elbow there."

This "history" referred to by Pardew was an incident involving Van Persie, when at Arsenal, and Newcastle's Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul which took place during a match last season. Van Persie apparently had words for his compatriot that Krul's team-mates took exception to and the pair had to be kept apart when the match finished.

There will also be no action taken by the FA with regard to the Newcastle midfielder Cheik Tioté, who appeared to stamp on Tom Cleverley's leg during the same game with United, or to the Stoke City defender Robert Huth, who was involved in a similar incident with the Liverpool forward Luis Suárez.

In both cases the incidents were seen by officials at the time and therefore no further action can be taken.