Wenger charged with misconduct Aserne Wenger

LONDON. – Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been charged with misconduct by the English Football Association. Wenger pushed fourth official Anthony Taylor after being sent off in Sunday’s 2-1 Premier League win over Burnley.He had been dismissed for reacting angrily to a 93rd-minute penalty given to Burnley when they trailed 1-0. After the game, Wenger apologised and said he “regretted everything”. The FA says he has until 8pm on Thursday to respond to the charge.

An FA statement read: “It is alleged that in or around the 92nd minute, Wenger used abusive and/or insulting words towards the fourth official.

“It is further alleged that following his dismissal from the technical area, his behaviour in remaining in the tunnel area and making physical contact with the fourth official amounted to improper conduct.”

Meanwhile for the 149th time in the top-flight, Arsenal lined up without an Englishman in their starting line-up in the 2-1 win over Burnley on Sunday.

Unbelievably, that is a whopping 27 more than the rest of the English Premier League soccer clubs COMBINED. Wenger’s latest team selection gifted the Gunners all three points, as a late Alexis Sanchez penalty lifted the North London club up to second place.

It was back in 2005 when the English Premier League witnessed the first all-foreign match day squad, as Arsenal cruised to a 5-1 thumping against Crystal Palace. The team-sheet consisted of eight different nationalities, with six Frenchman, three Spaniards and two Dutch players.

However, the first team to field an all foreign line-up was Chelsea way back in 1999, Gianluca Vialli leaving the likes of John Terry, Jody Morris, Jon Harley and Mark Nicholls on the bench.

Three England internationals were left on the bench by Wenger when they faced the Clarets – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been in-and-out of the starting 11, while Kieran Gibbs has failed to establish himself as Arsenal’s first choice left-back.

Danny Welbeck is still being treated cautiously by the 67-year-old as he gets back to match fitness after being hampered by a knee problem.

In 2009, Arsenal again were involved in league history when they faced Portsmouth at Fratton Park. For the first ever time, the match featured both sides not fielding any English players, however Craig Eastmond and Scott Brown both came on as late substitutes.

Wenger has been known to give youth players their chance in the side, sacrificing the League Cup to give players their chance, but the stats do show that he favours foreign footballers over Englishmen.

If the former Monaco manager names an unchanged team for the third straight game against Watford, they will reach a milestone of 150 games. The Gunners sit in second place in the table, eight points behind runaway leaders Chelsea. – BBC Sport.

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