Wenger rues Arsenal panic following ‘scandalous’ penalty

a solution. Don’t look for excuses. Through work, find a solution.

“You know, I don’t like to lose. Imagine when you lose two games in a row. For sure, my soul is bad.

“For sure, it will be very difficult for me to sleep.

“But I think we must have the same sensation, me and my players, to change things in the next game and be positive.”

Palace claimed their first league goals of the season after losing their first seven matches, with Cesar Azpilicueta’s own-goal setting them on their way and Wilfried Zaha tying up the win on the stroke of half-time after Tiemoue Bakayoko had equalised.

Roy Hodgson’s side remain at the foot of the table and while the Palace manager was relieved to get off the mark, he rejected the suggestion the club’s season had finally taken off.

“In terms of the season starting, I don’t embrace that idea. I don’t subscribe to it. A championship is 38 matches. Each is its own particular story,” he said.

“Sometimes it’s a good story – we’d like to read that chapter again – but next Saturday is another story.

“Just because we won the game today [Saturday], deservedly against a very good team, doesn’t mean we’ll win against Newcastle or West Ham. Back to square one. We need to realise what we did well today and then work on it.”

Zaha stood out on his first appearance since picking up a knee injury on the opening day but Hodgson insisted praise should be spread around his team. “I thought he was excellent, don’t get me wrong, but it was a good team performance.

“It’s a bit unfair to suggest that a performance – of which we’re really proud – [is] down to one good player returning.” — AFP ARSENE Wenger believes a “scandalous” penalty was the main reason why his Arsenal side ended up losing 2-1 at Watford on Saturday.

The result lifted Marco Silva’s Hornets into fourth place in the Premier League on a day when Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea also all dropped points.

Arsenal led at half -time through a rare goal from Per Mertesacker, the Germany defender, but the game changed in the second half when Mesut Ozil failed to convert a simple chance to double the lead.

Within a minute Hector Bellerin was adjudged to have impeded Richarlison at the other end for a penalty that the Arsenal manager was convinced was the result of a dive to deceive referee Neil Swarbrick. Measures are in place this season for the authorities to punish simulation retrospectively and it will be interesting to see if action is taken against the Brazilian.

“It’s a scandalous decision but what can we do? Nothing,” Wenger complained. “I believe that we had many, many danger situations where we could have scored but didn’t.

“We were unlucky with the penalty; it was a bit ridiculous. Then we panicked. And we stand there with defeat.

“We dropped the level a bit in the second half. We lost our fluency a little. We had the chances to score two and three.”

Richarlison could be handed a two-match ban if found guilty of diving, a decision that would be made by a three-man panel consisting of a former match official, a former manager and an ex-player, and would have to be unanimous.

Former Premier League referee Graham Poll certainly felt there was a case to answer. “It is as clear an example of diving as you can see,” he said. “I wouldn’t blame Swarbrick. I would blame Richarlison for diving and deceiving.”

The penalty was converted by Troy Deeney, a Watford substitute, and set the platform for midfielder Tom Cleverley to win deep into added time.

The season may only be eight league games old but there is no denying that Watford have made a fine start under new manager Silva, apart from a 6-0 home loss to Manchester City last month.

“It’s not bad but it means nothing now,” Deeney said. “We’re just taking it game by game. I believe we’re building something really good.

“With late goals it shows we have belief and how fit we are. All the lads coming in are making the impact.”

Silva, who almost kept Hull City up last season on the back of strong home form, revealed he had been the game critical of his players at half-time.

“It was a very good second half,” he said. “I didn’t like the first. We were playing a very good team, and we played scared and without confidence.

“We spoke at half-time and I told them not to be shy.

“The second half, we played very well and with our attitude we could change the result.”

“Massive credit has to go to the manager,” Deeney added. “It’s called a half-time team talk but that was a roasting.

“He told people to believe. We had a great start to the season and wanted to carry on against the bigger teams.” — AFP