Papiss Cisse has accepted a Football Association charge for allegedly spitting at Manchester United's Jonny Evans and faces a possible seven-match ban.
The Newcastle striker and the Manchester United defender were charged with breaching FA rule E1[a] following an incident in Wednesday night's Barclays Premier League clash between the clubs at St James' Park which was not seen by the match officials.
Cisse's prospective punishment is one game higher than the standard tariff for spitting, due to an earlier sending-off this season.
But his stance was unsurprising given he released a contrite statement earlier on Thursday, a marked contrast to the position of Evans, who categorically denied spitting at his opponent in an account released by the Red Devils. Evans has until 6pm on Friday to answer his charge.
Newcastle managing director Lee Charnley said: "Both ourselves and Papiss agree that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable.
"In life, when you do something wrong you have to front up, admit your mistakes and accept the punishment. Papiss was proactive this morning in making a full and heartfelt apology, which he did in advance of any notification from the FA regarding this charge."
Northern Ireland international Evans issued a statement on Thursday denying he had done anything wrong in the game won 1-0 by Manchester United.
"I am shocked to have seen the media coverage from last night's match. I would like to make it clear that I did not spit at Papiss Cisse," he said.
"I was totally unaware of any spitting incident and had assumed that the issue at the time was with the challenge and his attempted retaliation to the tackle from the floor.
"It is not in my character or in my nature to spit at anybody nor is it something I have ever done or would ever do. It is certainly not something that I did last night."
- Source: PA Sport Report - 3/6/15
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