'That's cheating' - Furious West Bromwich Albion boss Tony Pulis accuses Alexis Sanchez
Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez stays ahead of West Brom's Jake Livermore. Photo: Getty Images
West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis did not hold back in his criticism of Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez after his side's 2-0 defeat at Emirates Stadium.
Pulis was fuming after referee Robert Madley turned down his side's claims for a first half penalty after Jay Rodriguez was tumbled in the box by Shkodran Mustafi, while he was also disappointed by the decision to hand Arsenal a second half spot kick that sent the home side on their way to victory.
While Pulis stated he was keen to avoid criticising the match officials, he then offered up some feisty comments to Sky Sports after his side's defeat.
"I think everybody has seen what's happened today," said Pulis. "I think if you want to make an example of something, Sanchez actually dives on the edge of the box for the first free-kick. And he should be booked for diving there, in my opinion.
"Then you see the tackle in the box on Jay, the referee's got a great view, it's a stonewall penalty.
"Jake (Livermore) should score the rebound and we should score other goals, we had opportunities. The disappointing thing tonight is Sanchez dives for the first free-kick, not the one they score off, and he should be booked. That's cheating.
"Jay is honest, and doesn't get his reward for being honest. We haven't had a penalty at this football club for over a year. And none of my players are told to roll around.
"The public out there, and everybody in the studio would have seen the referee's performance, so let them decide what they think. They won't get fined for that.
"The great thing is everybody has seen it, so they make their decisions. I don't have to talk about it and I don't want to talk about it."
Rodriguez also felt he should have been awarded a penalty, even though he jumped to his feet after the challenge from Mustafi and forced Petr Cech into a fine save to keep a clean sheet.
"For me, I felt contact," said Rodriguez. "Obviously I went down and I was just waiting for the foul to be given but it wasn't given so I got back up because I wasn't injured or hurt, I've seen the chance to score and Cech made a good save.
"For me, it was a penalty but you get them and you don't."
