Wenger claimed the Aston Villa boss deliberately put
the official under pressure at half-time in the 2-2 draw before he
gave the home side a penalty.
The Gunners boss raged: “I know how it works here. At
half-time the ref gets stick, in the second half a 50-50 decision
goes the other way.
"I waited at half-time to see what happened and I was
not disappointed.
"There is nothing more to explain. I had no discussion
with O’Neill. You should ask him about that. The dugouts are close
together.”
The two bosses clashed on the Villa Park touchline
after Villa were awarded their controversial second-half spot-kick
and had to be separated by backroom staff.
Gareth Barry scored to put Villa back in the game.
Arsenal had swept into a two-goal lead through Denilson
and Abou Diaby. Wenger’s misery was completed when Zat Knight
levelled in injury-time.
The result left Arsenal 10 points behind Premier League
leaders Liverpool.
Wenger added: “The penalty was the turning point. Now
we have to keep our belief. We have the quality.”
Villa chief O’Neill confirmed his assistant John
Robertson had spoken to the referee at half-time.
He said: “The referee did not give a foul against
Gabriel Agbonlahor and was all of three yards away. I think John
wanted to speak to him about that. Arsene Wenger has his own
opinion
“It was much ado about nothing. We deserved a point
totally.
“I thought we were brilliant in the first half but we
were rocked by the opening goal. We were a goal behind and should
have been four or five up.”
