Robin van Persie could be in hot water despite helping Arsenal stage a
remarkable comeback to knock Aston Villa out of the FA Cup.
He scored a penalty either side of Theo Walcott’s lucky finish to rule
out Richard Dunne and Darren Bent’s first half goals.
But Villa manager Alex McLeish wants the Football Association to look at
an incident just after van Persie’s second, when Dutchman appeared to elbow
Carlos Cuellar.
"If it was an elbow in the face, yes I would like them to look at
it.”
"I saw it in real time and I haven't seen it again on television,
but it looked like he hit him in the face with his elbow. Cuellar is not
someone to go down if he hasn't been hurt,” he added.
The match itself was the clichéd ‘game of two halves’. McLeish’s men
were resilient and the goals from Dunne and Bent left Wenger in a desperate
situation. The players left the pitch as a chorus of boos rang around the
Emirates – another trophyless season loomed.
Whatever Wenger, and van Persie, said
at half time clearly worked as Arsenal scored three goals in seven minutes to
stun Villa. The Dutchman’s composure from the spot took his tally to 120 goals
for the Gunners, equalling Dennis Bergkamp’s record, and set up a visit to the
winners of next week’s Middlesbrough-Sunderland fourth-round replay.
