Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has called on the Football Association (FA) to ban players who dive in order to rid the game of play acting to win free kicks or penalties.
Diving is once again a hot topic in the Premier League after three Chelsea players, Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa and Willian, were all booked for simulation this month.
Chelsea defenders Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic have also recently been accused of diving by opposition managers with Blues boss Jose Mourinho countering that there was 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. That’s a big issue and sometimes it’s not obvious,” the Frenchman added.
“Punish only obvious cases but not mixed ones. “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.”
The Arsenal manager was also quick to dismiss speculation linking forward Lukas Podolski with a move to Inter Milan.
The German has found himself largely out of favour 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,” he said.
Arsenal are currently fifth in the standings, level on 33 points with fourth-placed Southampton, who they face on Thursday.
