Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger claims English players are 'masters' of diving ahead of Tottenham trip

Arsene Wenger has claimed English players are now the “masters” of diving.

The Arsenal boss stopped short of naming specific players but his comments come just four days after Tottenham duo Harry Kane and Dele Alli were accused of simulation during Spurs’ 2-2 draw at Liverpool.

Alli was booked for simulation at Anfield – the third time he has been punished for such an offence during two-and-a-half years as a Premier League player – while Reds defender Virgil van Dijk suggested Kane had exaggerated contact to earn a penalty which he subsequently missed in a frantic finish to last weekend’s match.

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted Alli deserved his yellow card but believes such issues are over-analysed, describing it as a “minimal issue” but in response, Wenger said: “I am convinced that he wanted to say that tricking your opponent is to say that you have to be clever.

“How far was it an apology for diving? I’m not sure at all. I don’t think he would. In my personal case? No. We have to get the diving out of the game.

“I remember there were tremendous cases here when foreign players did it but I must say the English players have learned very quickly and they might even be the masters now.”

Wenger was careful not to mention Alli or Kane by name but his words will place referee Anthony Taylor under additional scrutiny ahead of Saturday’s north London derby between Tottenham at Arsenal at Wembley.

The Frenchman, who stated in November that Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling “dived well” during the Gunners’ 3-1 defeat at Etihad Stadium, also insisted he had sympathy with officials over the issue while defending the conduct of his own players.

“I don’t encourage them to dive at all,” he said. “But if you look at the situation, I think when sometimes you do not want to provoke a dive as well. Sometimes you want your players to be intelligent, they have played a little bit with the rules, they make more of it on the penalty case.

“Every striker will do that. They extend a little bit the rules. Where is it and how far can you go? That is down to the referees and I think that sometimes, at normal speed, it is very difficult to determine, I must say.

“On that front, as much as I can be harsh with the referees, on that front I am quite tolerant with the referees because when you watch a game live it is very difficult at 100 per cent pace to distinguish whether it is a dive or not.

“Most of the time, when a player is going to the goalkeeper, they push the ball away from goal. I think they had a good rule in England when I arrived here in England.

“When the striker pushes the ball away from the goal, they didn’t give penalties because the only resource the striker has after is to look for a penalty. In many cases, it’s like that now, the guy goes and if the goalkeeper has their hands off, the striker leaves a leg as long as he can to make sure that the goalkeeper touches him. But that’s not really a penalty.”