Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney could be hit with FA charges

Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney could be hit with FA charges after lashing out in Manchester United's stormy 1-0 win at Stoke.

Rooney and Ronaldo both escaped punishment at the Britannia Stadium as Stoke defender Andy Wilkinson was sent off yesterday.

But England striker Rooney was lucky to stay on the pitch after elbowing City captain Abdoulaye Faye in the chest.

Ronaldo's kick at Wilkinson also went unpunished by referee Chris Foy, who sent the defender off for later retaliating in the 72nd minute.

And the pair could be retrospectively punished by the FA as both flash-points were missed by officials. Potters' assistant manager Dave Kemp said: "The 28,000 crowd saw what Ronaldo did but the one who mattered didn't."

United's fortune helped enable Argentine striker Carlos Tevez to bag a close-range late winner.

And United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: "Carlos scores important goals and he has come up trumps again.

"At that point I was saying to myself this could be a draw and I was maybe thinking about taking Carlos off, but sometimes you have to be patient."

United's win marked a successful return to domestic action after lifting the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan, during which Rooney shone.

And Ferguson is confident they can now launch a successful defence of their Premier League title.

He added: "At this stage of the season coming from back from Japan, the energy was good and I think we have handled it well.

"If we can get to New Year's Day a couple of points adrift of the leaders we will be very happy with that.

"Second half of the season we expect to kick on a bit and we have given ourselves a great chance if we get in that position."

But Ferguson is concerned about central defender Rio Ferdinand's persistent back problems, which ruled him out here.

He said: "We have to get to the root of this because he has had this back problem too long. Maybe in 10 days he should be O K."