Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings has escaped punishment for his stamp on Nelson Oliveira in Saturday's game at Reading, because the incident was seen by the match official.

BBC reporter Simon Stone revealed the news on his Twitter account this afternoon, with Reading also confirming that no further action would be taken.

The awful incident left Oliveira needing surgery over the weekend, and he posted an update today to thank the staff at the hospital and the fans for their concern.

Mings, who was making his debut for Villa, apologised at the time and also sent a message out after the game wishing the striker well.

However, the on-loan Bournemouth man does have previous for this after he was handed a five-game ban after deliberately stamping on Zlatan Ibrahimovic's head when the Swedish legend was at Manchester United.

But, with referee Geoff Eltringham claiming he saw the incident, Mings will face no punishment and it means he will be involved against Sheffield United on Friday night at Villa Park.

The Verdict

This is quite a staggering decision and Mings has got away with one massively in my opinion. You also have to ask why the ref seeing the incident actually matters? It should be reviewed independently either way.

The defender has history of this and it does seem as though he could've quite easily lengthened his stride to avoid Oliveira.

It seems as though the matter is now closed and Villa are extremely fortunate their new signing isn't sitting out at least the next five games, although that would've been lenient.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.