Wenger: It is difficult to prove intent for these tackles

Manager Arsène Wenger re-iterated his comments with regards to suitable punishment for players who resort to overly-physical tactics against opposition players.

Players such as Eduardo and Aaron Ramsey had to come to terms with being out of the game for a much longer time than their 'assailants', who were for the most part, banned for 3 matches, if not less.

Sunderland's Dan Smith only received a yellow card for his tackle which broke Abou Diaby's ankle.

Wenger said: "There's a grey area in the game over intent or not intent. You can never prove it.

"There are a few tackles where you can say that the player should be suspended for as long as the guy is injured. But then you have to prove intent and you go into a difficult area.

"For example when Diaby was injured [against Sunderland] it was 100 per cent intentional. It was a complete tackle from behind, he has no intention to play the ball, he has no chance to play the ball.

"He [Smith] will not have wanted to break the leg of Diaby, but his frustration came out and he tackled in a situation where he had no chance to win the ball. If he has no intent to break the leg then at the very least he is stupid.

"I thought about taking legal action, but it was a young player who wanted to show his manager his commitment.

"All players should have a duty of care, and most of them fulfil it. I don't want to say too much about what happened [to Ramsey] as it could raise controversy, which is not what we want.

"We want to continue to play the football we like and help support Ramsey. We don't want a trial for Shawcross on whether it was intentional or not?

"I am not God, I am not in the head of the players. But you have Aaron Ramsey who is 19-years-old, and you're supposed to say 'thank you very much, he's out for so long.'

"And people forget that playing again is not the same as him being back to his best."

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