Gunn fight: Arsenal's Jack Wilshere in half-time tunnel bust-up with Everton stars
Gunn fight: Arsenal's Jack Wilshere in half-time tunnel bust-up with Everton stars
Eight or nine players squared up and a punch appeared to be
thrown after Toffees' Mirallas squirted opponent in the face with a
drinks bottle
Tunnel of shove: Arsenal and Everton stars pile in
Sky
jack Wilshere was squirted in the face with a water bottle in a tunnel fracas as tempers boiled over at the Emirates.
And
Wilshere retaliated by seemingly throwing a punch at Kevin Mirallas as
players squared up and the battle for Champions League riches turned
ugly. On a fractious, goalless night,
Gunners manager Arsene Wenger claimed Everton midfielder Darron Gibson
should have been sent off, while counterpart David Moyes scoffed: "Were
we a little bit rough? Up north, we tackle like that quite often.
"That's actually allowed in football."
The
flashpoint of a tense, feisty stalemate came as the teams left the
field after 45 minutes of exemplary niggling, Everton striker Mirallas
knowingly squirting water from his drinks bottle over his shoulder, and
the jet hit England star Wilshere in the face.
Wilshere lashed out at Mirallas, and around eight or nine players squared up in a melee. Gunners
forward Theo Walcott had been on the receiving end of some rough-house
tackles in the first half, bringing Wenger stomping out of the dugout in
protest as Gibson sailed close to the wind but just stayed on the right
side of referee Neil Swarbrick.
In a damaging week for football's
image, both clubs could be in trouble with the Football Association if
Swarbrick mentions the half-time handbags in the tunnel in his official
match report.
Inevitably, Wenger claimed he did not see the flashpoint.
He said: "If it was on TV, very soon everybody will know about it.
"Basically, the game was very intense physically.
"In
the first half, I didn't think the referee dealt at all well with the
intimidating challenges, and it was detrimental to the fluency of our
game, but we responded well and we had fantastic commitment.
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Arsenal v Everton
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"Yes, I thought Gibson should have been sent off - he should have had a yellow card already before the first one.
"The
referee has to make the right decisions, but you have to respect the
effort Everton put in. They decided to make it very physical for us to
disturb our game and sometimes went over the edge."
Moyes added: "You can never be disappointed taking a point at the Emirates and we more than deserved it.
"We
didn't do enough to win the game, but the players knew what was at
stake and it wasn't for a lack of effort. They went at full tilt to get a
result.
"We weren't going to come here and let Arsenal stroke the ball around and make 600 passes."
Asked about the tunnel incident, Toffees
boss Moyes enjoyed a sideways swipe at Wenger, chortling: "Did you see
the incident? I didn't either - and I know somebody who says that quite a
lot.
"I wasn't nervous (about Gibson being sent off) because I thought we made it a right good game.
"I've been here when it's been quiet, but we got the crowd going - Everton
got the crowd going, but just because you make tackles, not every one
is a foul and not every one means you have to kick it out of play."
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