Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has called on the Football Association (FA) to ban players who dive in order to rid the game of playacting to win free-kicks or penalties.
Diving is once again a hot topic in the English Premier League after three Chelsea players — Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa and Willian — were all booked for simulation last month.
Chelsea defenders Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic have also been accused of diving by opposition managers, with Blues boss Jose Mourinho countering that there is an agenda against players at his club.
Wenger said the only way to solve the problem would be for the FA to take retrospective action against players who have clearly dived.
“I’m against diving,” Wenger told reporters. “We should punish it after the game.”
“The problem will be to decide when it was obvious diving or not,” he added. “That’s a big issue and sometimes it’s not obvious.”
“Punish only obvious cases, but not mixed ones,” the Frenchman said. “You have to suspend the players, I don’t know how long. It depends. I am not a specialist in this kind of thing, but the only way that the players will stop doing it is if they feel they can get punished.”
“Whether it is Arsenal or Manchester United or Liverpool or Chelsea, it is for everybody the same,” Wenger said.
The Arsenal manager was also quick to dismiss speculation linking forward Lukas Podolski with a move to Inter in Italy.
The German has found himself largely out of favor this season, having started only two matches, but Wenger was adamant that any move to Italy was not imminent.
“That is a joke. Inter Milan are not serious. There’s only talk,” Wenger said.
Arsenal are currently fifth in the standings, level on 33 points with fourth-placed Southampton, who they face in the Premier League today.
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