Villa and Spurs avoid Uefa rap

NO action will be taken against Aston Villa and Tottenham for fielding weakened sides in the Uefa Cup despite the competition's regulations stating that full-strength teams should be picked.

Article 3 of the Uefa Cup regulations state: "On entering the competition participating clubs agree: d) to field their strongest team throughout the competition."

Both Villa and Spurs went out of the Uefa Cup on Thursday after their managers made changes for matches against CSKA Moscow and Shakhtar Donetsk.

Uefa, however, believe it would be too difficult to prove that the rules had been broken in a way which could lead to disciplinary action. Instead, European football's governing body have called on clubs for "fair play".

Uefa spokesman Rob Faulkner said: "Clubs are expected to uphold the spirit of fair play and respect their opponents. The competition regulations do state clubs should field the strongest team."