FA will not take action against Gerrard

Gerrard has escaped action from the FA (GETTY IMAGES)

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard will not face action from the Football Association following his clash with Portsmouth midfielder Michael Brown.

It is understood the FA sought clarification from referee Stuart Attwell after Gerrard appeared to catch Brown with his forearm during the 4-1 win for Rafael Benitez's men at Anfield.

Attwell saw the incident at the time and spoke to Gerrard after awarding Pompey a free-kick, with the FA following guidelines not to punish players retrospectively if the match official sees the alleged offence.

Gerrard escaped punishment from the FA last week after apparently making a two-fingered gesture to referee Andre Marriner during Liverpool's 1-0 defeat away to Wigan.

Against Pompey, Benitez replaced his 29-year-old captain with Yossi Benayoun immediately after the incident with Brown, with victory a formality by that stage.

Victory against the Barclays Premier League's bottom side meant Liverpool bounced back from back-to-back defeats, against Wigan and Lille in the Europa League, with the return leg against the French side on Thursday.

"We knew that it was a must-win game," said goalkeeper Jose Reina.

"Fortunately we did it and performed really well. Hopefully we can do it again on Thursday.

"When the team is playing well, we can score at any time. For this 10 minutes (against Pompey), we were incredible."